Falling Star
by TeamOctober
Summary: Post-Breaking Dawn. Damien, a young hybrid, has grown up his entire life locked behind the walls of the city of Volterra training to be a member of the Volturi guard along with his coven siblings. Between combat training since he could walk, learning languages before he could speak, and being forced to grow up fast, being a liability is not an option. In progress...
1. Prolouge

Prolouge

Falling. The wind stung my face and cold cut through my clothes.

Falling. All I could see are the star like lights of the human world against the nighttime.

Falling. I was spinning head over heels, or was it heels over head? I was too dizzy to tell.

Falling. I was told everyday that I was immortal and better than the humans.

Falling. I wondered if the mortals could see me shrouded in my black cloak ready to die.

Falling. I tried to recollect how I had come to this falling from the heavens and my betrayal.

Falling. I had never disobeyed an order before, for I was created to serve.

Finally, as I neared the snow-topped mountains bellow I braced for the hard impact. It was so sudden and slow. I heard a deafening crunch and then darkness…


	2. Chapter 1: Still Hands

_Chapter One: Still Hands_

The entire Volturi guard were holding their breath. They waited for Aro, Caius, and Marcus to do…something. Well at least an outburst from Caius. It was the first time that they had lost a battle in several centuries. Caius had spent that last month pouting on his throne or complaining about every little thing to Anthenodora. Everything BUT what happened with the Olympic Coven. Most of the guards silently spent their time in their rooms or in the library waiting any minute to be called to be talked to by the three leaders until after week or two when people started to whisper cautiously, seeing if a lightning bolt would electrocute them or just something. The worst part was Aro.

He spent the time staring out at nothing, unmoving. His brow was furrowed; eyes flicked back and forth signaling that he was deep in thought. More like deep in plot. This was worse than just having him call you to the throne room saying that you were now worthless and were to be executed. Aro's plots often seemed like an amazing idea at first but often ended in disaster.He had the idea once to bite a cat and give it to Sulpicia as an immortal pet. Needless to say that along with razor sharp vampiric teeth, it had claws and accidently turned about twenty mice just by playing with them. At least there was no litter box.

Most of the guards were lounging in the room dubbed "The TV room" due to its giant plasma screen, amazing cable, XBOX, and couches everywhere. It had no windows, so it was a popular place during the many sunny days of Italy. "What do you think has Aro's knickers in a twist, besides you-know-what?" Felix whispered to Demetri on day 38 of this brooding gloom.Demetri just sighed and shrugged. "Maybe some plan to kidnap some of the Cullens, or maybe some of their friends?" He replied. It made sense except they had Bella's shield so now not even Chelsea's power would work. There had to be some plan or strategy or battle formation. There was no way that this would be forgiven of the Cullens. Demetri started quietly thinking of ways they could improve next time they faced them. And this time they would win.

"Well that new half-breed might have gotten Aro's attention, and I know that Sulpicia always wished she could have a kid," Alec suggested as he looked up from one of the many books he was reading. This surprised most of the guards, partly because Jane generally spoke for her brother and that Sulpicia could ever be a maternal figure. She lost Fluffy the Vampire Cat in less than an hour and only cared about herself, shopping, fashion, herself, shoes, Aro, oh and herself.

"That shallow bitch would kill a pet rock just by forgetting to feed it," Jane snorted. Jane secretly hoped that Aro was not planning on creating a half-breed. It was bad enough that all Aro thought about was Bella, Bella, Bella. She wasn't that great and now thanks to her, Jane and her brother were completely useless. They went from being the top of the guard for centuries to failures in one afternoon. Plus the only screaming and crying Jane could take was from the victims she tortured. Well SIDS was still common in this era so it could make anything look like an accident. Jane smiled to herself.

"What are you smirking about, twit?" sneered Chelsea, as she sat upon her royal, be-jeweled thrown, Afton's lap. Jane rolled her eyes like the eternal teenager that she was. Chelsea hated when Jane did that. The little brat might have been special once, but now since Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Idiot screwed up they were worthless. If they had actually done anything useful, none of this would have ever happe-…She soon lost her train of thought looking at her nails that were now gold. She had seen a tourist wearing a cute sweater that would go nicely with them. Maybe she would ask Heidi if she wanted to go hunting later.

"Dead babies," Jane said in the most sarcastic, innocent, puppy-eyed tone she could without wishing she still had the ability to puke. Felix burst out laughing so loudly the deep bass echoed off the walls and mildly hurt everyone's super hearing. At least it wasn't Anthenodora's cold shrill giggle. Speaking of the devil.

"SILENCE! I will not tolerate this disruption! Felix, what have I told you about laughter?" Caius screamed from somewhere in the building. Anthenodora's witch like, high pitch cackle followed as she mocked her mate. Those two most of the time complained about, yelled at, threatened to kill, and could not stand each other. Yet, they were as thick as thieves. Given the direction the sound was coming from they were in their bedroom. A shudder went down everyone's spine thinking of what was going on in there before Felix's laugh interrupted.

Felix had to be the loudest member of the guard, save Caius when he was in a bitchy mood, Sulpicia singing opera(or worse Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift)in the shower, or Santiago watching futebol given his vulgar humor, bass voice, impulsive speaking, and the there was no nice way to express how much of a man whore he could be. If he wasn't sparing with Santiago, the other brawns in the guard, commenting on every war movie with Demetri, or playing video games with random strangers on XBOX live, he was flirting with tourists with his cat calls, wolf whistles, and other animalistic sounds that made even the marble bust of a person Marcus roll his eyes and sigh in embarrassment that he was even associated with him.

Demetri often did flirt, but he was much slyer about it. His quiet humor, rare smile, subtle compliments, and the fact that he was probably the brightest and well-read of the guard charmed many. The only one who could best him at chess or has read as many books as him was probably Alec, followed by Marcus on a good day and Santiago if a game wasn't on.T he one and only person that he wished his charm influenced was Heidi. Every time he tried to smile or compliment her she would divert her eyes, get really quiet, and worse of all pretend he did not exist.

The guards sat in silence for several hours again, partly out of habit and partly out of lack of good conversations. The room was so quiet you could hear the residents of Volterra milling about the square, the splash of the fountain, and the clicking of the gears of the ancient clock tower.

"Okay. That's it. I can't take the silence anymore! I am going to see if I can get Aro to spill what he has been brooding over all month," Jane hoped of the couch from her spot next to a reading Alec as everyone stared at her as if she was a dead man walking towards an electric chair. "Good luck with that, Pandora," Chelsea sneered to herself. In truth, everybody had been wondering what Aro was thinking. But no was impulsive, brave, or even stupid enough to ask.

A few minutes the guards heard Jane scream, "WWWHHAATTT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?A lec's only fifteen. Why him, too?" followed but hushed whispering that they could not make out. A few seconds later Jane appeared at the door way looking as if she had seen a ghost. She stiffly walked back to her seat, eyes staring forward lost in some phantom fear. Whatever Aro had just thought of was so bad it had scared the most fearless of the entire guard. Some of the guards were almost missing Cat Dracula.

"What did Aro want?" Felix's voice wavered.

"Aro wants to see Alec, Demetri, Santiago, Afton and Felix in the throne room in five minutes. He will explain everything there," Jane whispered frightened out of her mind.

Now everyone was very intrigued. If this was about the battle with the Cullens, why were Felix and Santiago being called? They just served as fighters. If it was about Jane and Alec being useless they would have been called together. Demetri's job was just to find anyone who tried to escape or worked as a backup fighter and was not needed in the fight. Afton did jack shit and everyone knew it. He was only in the guard because he was Chelsea's mate and she got whatever she wanted from Aro since she had the most useful gift. Why did Aro want those five?

Fork,Wa

It had been about a month since the Volturi had left in defeat. Many of the Cullens were worried that they would return for vengeance. No one was expecting victory. Just as a precaution, Alice was still searching the futures of the guards and Aro. So far everything seemed normal, vampires from around the world would still come and report violations of laws. Things would return to normal. But slowly Aro seemed to get more and more blurry. She had to concentrate really hard to see him and his future seemed to change everyday. It was quite dizzying. But Alice could still see the guards clear as day. Then, suddenly one day she couldn't see them. Not a single guard. She tried harder, but something was wrong. The psychic concentrated only on them, blocking out everything but the Volturi until her head felt like it had spilt open.

"Alice?" Edward asked concerned as he read her thoughts.

"The Volturi. They're just gone. I can't see them anymore," Alice whispered.


	3. Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End

1152 AD Loxwood, England

If anyone was every searching for Lila, they would best find her barefoot in the forest surrounding the village that she lived in. She looked no more than seventeen and already was the best apothecary the town had ever seen. But then again she never had been normal. She had always been one with nature, hated how obsessive the towns' people were about religion, and that girls did NOT need to be escorted by a man into the dark woods that she had trotted as a child. She had never been one to be scared of the dark as it often embraced her. Lila was well aware of all the monsters in this world, given that in a way she was one.

The road running dead centre through the woods was often used by messengers of other kingdoms since her town was between London and the sea. Most currently there were French soldiers helping to escort and protect a member of French royalty that had just married the king. Or at least that was what the gossiping washerwomen always talked about when they weren't talking about Lila behind her back. That girl was truly wicked! She had no intention of getting married, had her own trade, rarely attended church, worn trousers, and was the least lady like girl they had ever seen. That and her parents had disappeared when she was only eleven.

Today she watched a young knight who looked no older than eighteen wander through the woods back and forth looking lost on his horse. Hiding behind the pines, she walked closer to admire this stranger. He had medium dark brown hair and boyish features. His slate grey eyes darted between the ragged map in his hand and forked path between him. It would be dark in less than an hour and obviously was not going to get to wherever he was journeying to. Straightening her long platinum hair she walked forward.

"Are you lost, sir," She asked politely. The horse neighed out of startle and bucked backwards almost knocking him off.

"Oh mon dieu ! Qu'est-ce qu'une jeune fille comme vous fait dans les bois cette fin? " He replied awestruck. To him it seemed as though she had melted from the shadows wearing ghost white hair, a black cloak, basket of strange herbs and green eyes that seemed fit for a witch's cat rather than an innocent girl. Judging by her befuddled expression she did not speak French.

"What is a young girl like you doing in the woods alone at this hour?" He repeated in English.

"I am not a young girl! I am guessing I am about the same age as you and I know the woods better than you! I should be asking why a young boy is sent so close to dark alone?" She arched an eyebrow patronizingly.

"Touché. I am indeed lost and need to find Lord Gregory's estate," He sighed rubbing his face in frustration.

"By all means my damsel, follow me," Hiking up her skirt she ran to the manor, boy and horse in tow, earning many glares from the village women and winks from the village men. Lila, giggling all the way, thought about the boy.

Volterra Throne Room Current Day

Aro was quite pleased with himself. He wondered why he hadn't thought of this before. Caius walked into the throne room and paused when he saw Aro's gleeful smile. God he was such a pansy at times. "Do I even want to know?" Caius grunted has he sat down in his throne to Aro's left.

"I have just come up with the most brilliant idea. Would you like you hear it?" Aro beamed.

"Would you like to give me a choice?" Caius grumbled under his breath.

Ignoring him, he continued, "Children, Caius. Children! What do you think about it?"

"I think brown acid now can now affect a certain vampire, that's what."

"Well I was thinking about what a magnificent creature Renesmee is, and then it hit me. What if we could create one of our own? Doesn't it seem exciting?"

"First off you are not my type, and second off it takes a male vampire and female human to create a half-breed. I don't think that we could create a child between us two even if we tried," Caius snorted sarcastically.

"For the love of God I am not gay Caius. I have a wife. Anyway I was thinking that we could ask our guards to create one and see what we get. Imagine what gifts we could have at our disposal."

Now Caius was intrigued. He remembered one thing he had heard about Alice Cullen's gift.

"Didn't you say that you saw in Alice's thoughts that she can't predict the futures of hybrids and anyone around them?" Caius hated children, but he hated the Cullens more. Aro was happy to get Caius on board. Having more foresight than Caius, he knew that when these creatures were mature enough they could have offspring of their own and they might even have multiple gifts.

"Do you really think this is wise?" a voice startled the now two giddy vampires. Marcus.

"We ask a lot of our guards that are not the most moral of things, but I do not see how mass rape and treating or manipulating children as livestock that could just be used for breeding. What if this idea backfires? If these children are as powerful as you say they will be, couldn't they turn on us just because of poor parenting or toddler temper tantrums or worse when they become teenagers?" He continued bursting their master-minded bubble, "Do you think the guards will even do it? They are loyal, but not that loyal."

"Well Jane had been here just a minute ago. She seemed surprised, but I bet we can sway her. I told her to ask Demetri, Felix, Alec, Afton, and Santiago to come here, so they should be here any minute."

Just as he finished speaking the door unlocked and swan open as the guards filed in. To his unsurprise Chelsea had come in with Afton and Jane followed Alec being the over concerned older sister that she was.

"Jane, what is it with you and bring in more people than we need? I asked for five people and you bring back five and a half," Aro smirked.

"So what news did you scare Jane with?" Felix said half laughing hiding the obvious nervousness. Jane hissed at him.

"I had a marvelous idea on how we can improve the guard! It will require a small, simple task from each of you. Except Jane and Chelsea, I am sorry my dears," Aro announced.

Having things now as clear as mud the guards just stared at him waiting him to elaborate.

"The Cullens now have a weapon that could very much benefit us. We need to best the Cullens and better ourselves. Given each of you has a gift that has landed your current spot as part of the guard, each of these talents will greatly uplift the power of the Volturi."

"What do we need to do?" Demetri sighed.

"Are we going to kidnap someone?" "Are we going to torture someone" Jane and Alec ask in sync.

"Does this involves killing someone?," Felix guessed totally confused and just throwing out the first thing that came to mind.

"Yes to all four and then one more thing," Aro smiled thinking the guards were finally getting the idea.

"What is the one more thing?" Demetri asked now on alert.

Caius smiled and said it as bluntly as possible, "Sex".

"We want each of you to create a hybrid. I will send Heidi out to find young women and I want each of you to at least try and see what we get. Since I want to guarantee the first one has some sort of gift, Alec will be the first one to try."

"What? Why me?" Alec burst alarmed.

"Yes you, and we have already explained why," Caius sighed.

"Sir, I have not um ever really um done something like this before," he stammered hoping Aro would get the hint.

Felix fake coughed, "Virgin."

If it was possible Alec would be blushing and right now debated if he used is power right now he could make himself disappear. Alec sighed rubbed his face in frustration.

Forks

Renesmee didn't know if she should be happy or sad. She was happy that she now knew that she would live as long as Momma & Daddy. She had a friend just like her named Nahuel. Before he left for Brazil, which made her sad, he gave her his email address and responded once a week give or take. Jacob was really happy when Nahuel left, but she didn't know why. Every time she asked Jacob, why Daddy would interrupt and grumble "Five months old Jacob, Five months old". She didn't feel five months old. She looked seven years old if you really had to guess.

Yet Renesmee was sad. Alice seemed scared and kept giving Daddy looks like something was wrong. She asked Momma if Alice saw something scary, but she would never answer. Or worse she promised to tell her later and not to worry about it.

Renesmee hated being treated like she was weak. Now Daddy never let her leave the house after what happened with the Volturi. They weren't that scary and no one got hurt. Why was everyone so protective?

Every time she thought of sneaking off to go outside, or use scissors, or go hunting by herself or anything "Dangerous" Daddy would give her a stern look and say "No Renesmee". She couldn't even go to Jacobs house unless Momma or Daddy went with her. So she tried to think of ways to hide her thoughts. If Momma could do it, why couldn't she?


	4. Chapter 3: Sorority

1152 Loxwood, England

Aromas of lavender, herbs, and ashes wafted through the small shop illuminating feelings of comfort and satiation as Arthur dragged the half dead body into the small shop between the silversmith and bread bakers. The iron bell over rickety door ran, alerting Lila that someone was in need of her skills. She tied her long mane back as she came to assess what the damage was and what supplies she would need.

"I-it was an accident. We we-were sparing and my sword nicked him. Help p-please," Arthur panted trying to catch his breath. He had lived at Lord Gregory's manor for eleven years training to be a knight and this was the first time he had every mortally wounded someone. There was so much blood, yet the unconscious body did not seem to get lighter as he carried to the healer.

Lila grabbed a clean linen sheet, draping it over the oak table as she order, "Quick place him back here. I'll go grab some cloth to soak up the blood." The stranger was awfully pale and clammy. A giant slice about two centimetres by seventeen centimetres and a centimetre and a half deep smiled like the jaws of an animal under his arm between his left rib and waist. The blood was thick and dark staining the table and everything around it. Arthur also seemed pale and looked like he was going to pass out. Lila ran back holding the cloth to the wound applying as much pressure as possible. Noticing Arthur's queasiness, Lila told him to go out to the woods and get fresh water, pine needles, and seven flowers with black, blue, red, and green petals with spiked stems. He was not to come back until he had those EXACT ingredients. There was no such things as the flowers that she described, she just needed him to leave.

Once he was out of her hair, she turned the stranger on his right side. Lila checked to make sure he truly was asleep before she did her next task. She grabbed a dagger and cut away the dripping wet shirt. Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, she focused on the wound. She then focused on fire, asking it to close the veins and stop the bleeding, whispering "Dóiteáin dhúnadh na díobhála dó."

Once it stopped bleeding, she thought about the cold stream in the forest and imagined it washing away the old blood and cleansing the wound while chanting "Uisce cleanse ne fola." Lila went into her tool chest and pulled out a needle made of an old bear bone and thread woven of its pelt. She needed to make her work somewhat human so no one figured out what she was.

Right before she was about to make the first stitch, the stranger's hand shot out and grabbed her hand, stopping her. Slate grey eyes bore into her as he yelled, "Get away from me, Sorcière!"

It was the boy she had seen in the forest yesterday. "Be quiet! No one can know what I am."

His eyes widened, "So you are a witch? I must report you to the local priest. You are going to burn in-".

Lila silenced him by slapping him across the face with a loud CRACK! "First off I am a witch. Second off, you will tell no one of this because you owe me for saving your life. And finally I am not going to Hell because I am not evil like you cult like church goers think I am!"

For a couple minutes the two just glared at each other. Breaking the frozen air Lila held out her right hand towards the young man. "My name is Lila."

Glancing at her hand like it was a rotten piece of flesh he replied, "Avremarus Sangnoir." He grabbed his ripped up shirt and left without a word.

The next day he came back and apologized for his coldness. "You said that you were not evil and proved it by saving my life. I am thankful for that kind lady." Lila just nodded in acknowledgement. The following day he also returned. This time curious if magic truly was real. Lila answered.

Every day that month he came by the small apothecary shop and asked her a question, sometimes two. The next month he would come in and have a cup of tea, sometimes supper. Eventually he told her that he was nicknamed 'Avi' as a boy, and so she called him that rather than Avremarus. Every Christmas Lord Gregory hosted a feast at his manor for all his vassals. Avi asked her to go as his guest. Later that night the lord of the house agreed to marry them that winter. By the time the snow melted Lila was with child.

Current Day Volterra

Alec did not know how he was going to do this. Of course he knew how to do IT thanks to Felix's many vulgar jokes. Already he at times felt uncomfortable about killing people, but that was needed to survive. Or that's what he told himself each time he hunted. This was completely unneeded. Besides he wasn't even really into girls. He thought one or two were cute from time to time but nothing more than a glance or so was exchanged. Alec had enough of girls as it was with Jane and trying to handle her.

Right now she was venting to him how much she thought this was a terrible idea. One of the 'perks' of having a sister that was a vampire was that she never ran out of breath screaming her head off ranting like a madwoman. Alec just sat there with a blank stare as she complained about babies, crying, forcing the guards to do this, and how much she hated Aro right now, and how unfair this was. For all she complained, he knew that she deep down wished she was a normal girl who wanted to fall in love with Prince Charming and maybe have kids of her own. She may hate Aro now, but she was a complete Daddy's Girl every now and then. _At least she gets to keep her clothes on_, was all Alec thought.

He spent hours wallowing in silent anxiety. He pondered if he just 'accidently' lost control and killed her rather than sleeping with her. But he knew that thanks to Aro's mind reading he would be found out. But then again it might not be an entire accident. Alec had never really been alone with a human for so long and the few times he interacted with humans was at a distance on missions or feeding. Doing this would peak his thirst to new extremes.

Late that night they heard the sound of heartbeats, smell of fresh blood, and click-clack of Heidi's stilettos. Jane and Alec made their way to the throne room passing the group of female tourists. Most of them looked like they were in college, possibly a sorority together. Barely any of them noticed, except one dyed blonde girl with barely any clothes on that winked at Alec and whispered to her friend, "Hotty three-O'clock" and they giggle together while giving him flirty smiles. Alec felt extremely self-conscious and noticed Jane was glaring at them. Almost reading his mind she guessed that Alec would pick the one who called him "Hotty" since she seemed more than willing to do the dirty with her brother. Taking a deep, calming breath she remembered that either she was dying in five minutes or having the agony of demon-child birth and dying in about three or so weeks. It was a very pleasing thought and realized that she might just learn to love her new niece or nephew if he or she causes this skank physical pain.

Both slipped stealthily into the main hall behind the tourists locking the door behind them as they entered trapping their prey. Aro gave Alec the signal to use his powers on the tourists. "So which girl will is be, Alec," He asked curious. Alec nodded towards the slut. He really did not feel like talking right now. "Kill the rest," Caius ordered. The guards descended in a blood thirsty frenzying killing everyone in seconds leaving nothing more than dried up corpses. All but the one. The bodies were cleared out and taken to the catacombs bellow the palace where there was an incinerator. No evidence was ever left of their kills. Once that was finished, Alec lifted his powers and walked up to the girl. She did not seem to notice that all her friends were dead and what had happened. She stared stunned as Alec grabbed her hand, trying not to crush it accidently, and walked her to one of the spare bedrooms.

Once he locked the door, he turned to her to find her sprawled on the bed, smiling suggestively. "So, what's your name," She had an American accent. Perfect, just fucking perfect. "Alec," was all he huffed. "OMG, are you British? I tots loves your accent. It so cuuuuutte. I'm Tiffany," she gushed. Alec never really realized he had an accent. Sure he was from England, but he guessed he never really lost his accent. Stiffly he walked over to the side of the bed and sat down. Katie moved so that she was siting almost on his lap. "So we are in this bedroom all alone…" She arched her eye brow. The next thing she did scared him so deeply, if it was possibly he would nightmares about it. She straddled his lap and KISSED him. With tongue. He really hoped his mouth didn't taste of blood. Grinding her hips into his she unbuttoned his dress shirt and undid the tie to his guard uniform. Alec just sat their completely taken aback by this girl's bold behavior and forwardness.

When what had to be done was finished, Alec bolted out of the room leaving the human asleep on the bed. He tried his best to gently pry himself from her octopus like hold. Shoving down feelings of guilt and confusion, he made his way to the bathroom to attempt to wash away any smell and possibly memory of what just unfolded. He scrubbed and scrubbed with as many different shampoos, body washes, soaps, and lotions but no matter what he still felt dirty. He stayed in there, head under the shower faucet for as long as his patience allowed it. It didn't matter that the hot water ran out. It all felt the same on his marble skin.

When stepped out he noticed his clothes were missing. Wrapping a towel around his waist he padded to his room, threw on a pair of sweats, and collapsed on the small comfy couch closing his eyes. I was generally used for when he wanted to read by himself without other's interrupting him…just not tonight. A couple minutes later Jane came in and perched on the arm of the couch closest to his feet, not saying anything. Breaking the tangible silence she peeped," I went ahead and burned your clothes. Figured that you did not want them making the rest of your things smell like _Slut Couture_." Alec did not respond. "So how was it? Was it really as great as Felix always brags about it being?" Jane ventured. Alec not only neglected to acknowledge to her questions, but looked away from her.

"Holy shit, are you gay?" Jane asked.

"No!" he sharply answered glaring daggers at her. Jane just smiled, she had finally broken her brother's brooding silence. And there it was again.

The next morning Tiffany woke up with an odd pain in her abdomen. Rising out of bed, a wave of nausea as realized that she wasn't in the bed at the hotel that she was staying at with her friends. And she was naked. Slowly she grabbed her clothes, put them on, and straightened her hair while she tip toed to the door in her most dignified "walk of shame" she could. This one night stand was so over. She tried opening the door quietly, but she realized it was locked and the knob would not budge. She tried again. Panic slithered into her mind as she remembered all these stories her mom had told her about girls being kidnapped while traveling and forced into whore houses. She tried knocking. Then banging.

"Hey! Let me out of here! I have a flight at five I have to make!" She yelled trying to sound calm. She banged her hand against the door again before trying to find a window trying to tell herself that she was just over reacting. She looked out the window to see that she was on the third floor of whatever building she was in. Wait, it was that creepy old historic building that Christy had recommended touring and she followed that one really pretty Italian chick into. Everything else was really fuzzy. She then remembered that she had seen a hot dark haired guy. Tiffany stared at her reflection in the window and realized her stomach looked a little belated. Nonsense, every girl thinks she looks fat in the mirror. The longer she stared at the reflection, the tighter her clothes felt.

She stared at her reflection in the window confused in a daze when she realized a face had joined her reflection startling her. It was a petite girl with fair hair. Tiffany had seen her before with the hot boy. What if she was his girlfriend? Oh no. Somehow she came in without making any noise. Smiling she turned around, only to lose it when she saw that the girl had a box in her hand. "Here, we need you to take one of these," the girl said in an accent similar to the guy she met last night. Maybe she was his sister. Next she threw the box at her in disgust. It was a pregnancy test.

Laughing thinking that the boy was playing a prank on her or the girl did not fully understand that a test can't tell you the morning after if you are pregnant. She gave the girl a motherly smile, leaning down to be eye level with her she cooed, "Looks like someone doesn't yet fully understand where babies come from".

"Bitch, I'm well over eight hundred years old. I know what sex is," the girl glared at her. Tiffany just realized that the girl's eyes were glowing red as embers. It was probably just contacts. The girl turned and headed towards the door stopping only to say," The other residents in this building wish that you would not make so much noise. If you become too loud again, we will find one way or another to silence you." The closed the door behind her and made a display about locking the door. There was a small bathroom inside the suite that she was in. The longer she sat bored in the small room, the more tempting the box seemed. Finally she took one of the tests. It said positive. Dumbfounded, she tried another. It said positive. She tried the entire box. They all said positive. This could not be happening. She was going to open her eyes in the hotel room and find Christy and Britany in her room. She would pack her bags and head to the airport, eat really bad airline food and go back home today. Not THIS.

The days passed and each day he lump in her stomach got bigger and bigger and she felt weaker and weaker. One day the girl returned with a plastic bag in her hand. It was filled with this thick red liquid. "Here, you need to drink this. That little sucker inside you is probably really thirsty," the girl smiled proudly. Tiffany took the bag confused. It was a bag of blood. "What the hell is this, you little freak?" she exclaimed. "Blood," the girl said shrugging, "And I'm not a little freak. I'm a vampire. That thing you're carrying, is half-vampire, half-human." She had to be lying. There was no such thing as vampires. Maybe a sick, sadistic cults who makes little girls do their dirty work and wear creepy red contacts. And dress all in black. And are really pale. And inhumanly pretty. And are obsessed with blood. But not vampires.

"I'm not leaving until you drink the bag," the girl interrupted her mini panic attack. Man she was bossy. Sighing and just wanting her to leave, she opened the bag. The little twit stiffened, staring unblinking at the bag like she wanted to kill it with her bare hands. Somehow she wasn't breathing. Maybe Tiffany could have some fun is this girl really was a vampire. Taking a small bit on her finger, she flicked it at the girls face, splattering it on her porcelain cheek. The girl screamed and hissed, clawing at her own face. Tiffany laughed. But then the girl turned towards her and looked like she was going to pounce on her and claw at her next. Ready for the kill. "Jane! No!" a voice ordered urgently.

Then oddest thing happened a great cloud of this odd black mist filled the room and Tiffany felt as if she had been knocked out, yet was awake. She couldn't see the room, nor could she hear the girl hissing at her about to kill her. Then it was gone and the room returned back to the way it was, but the girl was gone and the door was locked again. She had to be tripping balls.

Another couple days passed. Tiffany guessed she had been here for about two weeks. Maybe this was all real after all. She looked quite large and started wondering about the baby she was carrying. The creepy girl said it was half vampire. Maybe that was why it seemed to be growing so fast? She had to keep reminding her self that the creepy girl's name was Jane. Odd name for someone so strange.

Another week passed. She had become weaker each day and now could not even get out of bed or even sit up without struggle. Everytime she placed her hand on her belted stomach she waited trying to feel something. It was odd that the baby hadn't kicked or seemed to move once. This must not be the norm, even for a hybrid. Jane caught her one day cradling her stomach, listening patiently. Strangely enough she wanted to try to get the baby to kick, but there was no response.

Alec refused to talk to the human. She would be dead in less than a week. He would poke his head in the door when she was sleeping every now and then, but only to make sure she wasn't dead. Yet. For some reason he couldn't fathom, Jane seemed to care about the thing inside the human more than he did. He did care…he was just sort of in denial of the fact that he was going to be a father. It was such a weird thought. The more he thought about it, the more he stressed about how he was going to be a father exactly. He caught himself worrying that he would be a terrible father and the kid would be completely messed up. Or worse he would accidently kill it. He just could shake the fact that something was about to go horribly wrong.

On April 2, Tiffany felt the most agonizing pain in her abdomen. She screamed at blood and water dripped down her legs. No one came to help her. After about an hour her heart stopped and the pain was finally gone, but not before she got a glance a beautiful golden haired baby boy.

Forks, Washington

Edward was worried that something was wrong with Renesmee. Before the battle with the Volturi her thoughts had been a light and clear melody. Now they were getting darker and seemed empty only to be filled with occasional static. He had to focus more and more to hear her thoughts. This worried him. What if she was on danger and he didn't find out until it was too late? Everytime Edward asked her is something was wrong, she would just sullenly shrug and say nothing. Maybe Jacob did something. Renesmee probably needed a little time away from him.


	5. Chapter 4: The Angel

Chapter 4: The Angel

Loxwood England September 23, 1153

Avremarus was pasing the apothecary where and Lila lived trying to drown out the sound of blood curdling screams and not imagine the awful gore that was going on he and his wife's bedroom. This morning she had gone into labour with their first born child. Suddenly everything went quiet and the midwife peaked around the corning smiling proudly.

"It's over now. Would you like to see the babies?" She gushed. "Babies?" he was very confused.

"Yes she gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy," the midwife said calmly. Avremarus bolted into the room to find Lila holding two little bundles wrapped in a blanket. He sat on the edge of the bed smiling proudly. The girl had hair the colour of sunlight and looked just like Lila, except her hair was pin straight and cheek bones high like his. The boy had light brown hair that would darken with age to look similar to his and ears that stuck out to much. "He looks just like you," Lila noticed him staring at their son. "Except for the eyes," He replied. Both twins had almond shaped eyes that glowed the same unearthly green that Lila's did, just like emeralds in the sun or a cat prowling in the night. They were a telltale sign that one had magic coursing in their veins, just like their mother.

The baby boy noticed his father was staring at him and hid his face in Lila's arm, whiles the baby girl gurgle happily and reached for her father with small arms. "Less than an hour old and already a daddy's girl," He laughed. Avremarus picked her up and set her on his lap supporting her head lovingly. "What should we call them, Avi?" Lila mused.

"Well, my mother's name was Jane. It's not the most original name out there but I think it suits her. It means 'merciful'," he suggested. "Jane Sangnoir. Has a nice ring to it. I like it," Lila cooed at her newborn daughter before smiling at her now sleeping son. "How about Alexander? Since we are naming her after your mother how about we name him after my father."

" 'Great defender', it's perfect," Avremarus kissed his wife and his new family, Jane and Alexander, knowing that this was one of the best moments in his life that was going to end so soon.

Present Day Volterra

Alec smelled the blood. The entire freaking building full of blood thirsty vampires smelled the blood. Tiffany was finally dead. Her heartbeat was replaced by a small, rapid pitter pattering one on the other side of the door. He reached for the door handle, and then pulled it away. Alec didn't know what to do. Would IT be a boy or a girl? Was their one or twins or triplets or octuplets? He didn't even have a name picked out for IT? Did IT have powers, that's all Aro wanted right? "Just open the fucking door! I want to see my niece slash nephew slash whatever," Jane startled him out of his mini panic, reached around him and pushed the door open almost throwing it across the room.

She stomped into the room, ignoring the half naked corpse, and scooped the sleeping baby on the bed in a soft yellow towel. "Congrats, it's a boy," She announced. The thing in the towel lay motionless in her arms and almost looked like a doll, with too perfect blond curls, angel features that matched Alec's almost too perfectly and the fact that the only way you could tell it was alive was that it was breathing and had a pulse. It did not wake up when Jane picked him up. She tried softly stroking his round pale cheeks and then tapping his back. Nothing. He was probably just deeply asleep; she shrugged hoping nothing was wrong.

She carefully handed him over to her younger brother. It still did not stir. "Let's go see if he might be hungry. I'll go get a blood bag from one of the down stairs fridges," Jane suggested hoping that blood would get the baby's attention and wake it up. Alec, holding his new son and completely clueless, walked to his room and sat down on the reading couch. Right when he found a more comfortable position to hold the baby, there was a knock at the door. It wasn't Jane, she rarely knocks. "Come in," he called. It was the entire freaking guard. Felix burst in jovial as ever making teen mom jokes about Alec followed by an excited Santiago who wanted the baby named after him. Demetri was much more composed. Chelsea was squealing how cute he was and demanding to hold him with Afton holding her back…barely. She apparently would have to battle the wives also because they looked like they were about to rip each other's throats out if someone got a turn before them. Marcus even seemed as excited as he possibly could without showing emotion. But the most frightening thing was Aro and Cauis who had greedy piggish eyes already wondering how they could use his son's powers if he had any. He felt himself cradling the baby closer to his chest defensively. Still the baby boy did not react at all to the loud ruckus.

Something snapped. He released his powers silencing the entire room in seconds as he trapped it in a dark mist, suffocating all sensations and paralyzing the most powerful family in the world. If someone was looking at it from the outside you would have thought Alec had frozen time. He left a small path when he heard Jane's footsteps in the hall outside. "Wow families really do go psycho whenever there is a new baby in the house," she laughed nervously as she sat next to him, handing him a warm bottle of A positive.

He put the bottle to his son's lips and waited. Still nothing. Seconds turned into minutes and before you knew it an hour. The twins waited all night, with the guards still frozen in the room. Something was definitely not right. Taking a deep unneeded breath Alec tried thinking what could possibly be wrong. Jane had an idea and reached over to grab the baby. Telling herself that it was for the baby's own good she tried using her power on him, waiting for a high pitched scream of agony, for him to kick and fight. It was useless and he still lay motionless, dead as a doornail. She then tried forcing the baby's eyes open. They were a dull lifeless gray with as much light as the bottom of the ocean. Glancing between his eyes and the eyes of the trapped guards she realized they were similar.

"Alec, you know how the Cullen's half breed thing has the reverse of both her parents' powers? What is this is the reverse of your power? He hasn't reacted to sound obviously, he didn't react when we opened his eyes so he's blind probably, taste and smell are useless since he didn't do anything when we tried feeding him blood, and he didn't wake up when he was being moved or touched. He hasn't moved a single muscle, not even a twitch. Plus when humans sleep don't their eyes move behind their lids", Jane almost started crying in hysterics when she realized this kid was probably going to never wake up and die. Alec must have reached the same conclusion because he wrapped his arm around her in a tight hug, and started crying too. There were no tears or misty eyes or dripping snot, just aching sobs and disjointed breathing.

He soon let his concentration slip and the dark mist disappeared leaving the still arguing guards to find the twins embracing and crying not realizing what was going on or that they had been in Alec's room for over a day and a half. The room went quiet again and Aro walked over to figure out why the most powerful of his guards were sobbing like stupid children who were crying over a broken toy. He placed his hand on the back of Alec's neck, reading his thoughts.

Aro's expression darken as he let out a low growl, "This THING is a failure! Go ahead and put it out its pathetic misery and try again! This time we will hopefully get one that actually functions!" Alec sat there stunned, jaw slowly clenching and Jane looked like she wanted to tackle Aro and slit his throat at the same time. Caius sympathetically as ever made it worse, "I cannot fathom why you two give a shit and are blubbering over a brain dead door stop! This is nothing more than an experiment, not a time to play house and dress up like a bunch of kindergarteners!" Felix, Demerti, Heidi, and Santiago had left the room realizing that whatever was going to happen next was going to be ugly. Afton stayed with his arm around Chelsea's waist, she enjoyed watching the twins get chastised like the silly twitish children they are. Plus she had a feeling she knew what Aro was going to ask next.

On queue Aro looked at her, signaling what he wanted: the twins to be completely and absolutely loyal to him and his cause and to not care about the soon to be dead baby. It was heartless, but necessary. She focused on both of them and Aro, mentally willing them to be complacent and submissive while severing all ties between the stupid infant. Both slowly relaxed and looked almost dazed. Marcus stood watching and also physically feeling Chelsea manipulating the ties between her victims, a spider spinning its web around flies. It was twisted and sick. Already the innocent child's heartbeat was slowly and vitals edging towards oblivion. And now the only two people who cared for it were forced to leave it for dead. It was a reminder that on the surface everyone looked like a unified family, but deep down it was a chess game with no real winners.

Aro then ordered Jane back to her room and told her to wait there until he called for her, nodding like a puppet she left like a ghost. He then asked Alec to go and try again, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Aro and Caius left together grumbling to each other about the laziness of their guards and how when Caius was human, in the golden days of Sparta, if an infant showed any weakness or flaw they were left for dead and how important it is to remember customs of the ancients.

Felix and Demetri retreated back to the television room talking about how there was a documentary on the Trojan war that they didn't want to miss. Really they just wanted to not think about what happened today because they realized that if slash when Aro asked them to create a hybrid, their leaders would not hesitate to put it down like a rabid dog if it wasn't what they wanted. Weakness was not a luxury among the Volturi. Santiago strayed from the pair saying that he was going to walk around the plaza once the sun went down. Upon hearing this Chelsea and Afton discussed going out on a date together to explore the city they had been trapped in the last millennia.

This Marcus waiting alone with the child mind and conscious reeling. The rational, vampire part of his brain cringed at this brain dead Thing. It was a useless thing that served no purpose and nothing more than a hopeless cause. But a small buried part of him thought that at least he could burry this thing once it died. Maybe even give in a name on a headstone so everyone would not be restricted to calling IT or THING. This small compassionate sliver had only ever been seen by one person, and that was Didyme. When she was alive anything felt possible, even possibly having a child together.

Marcus decided to name the boy Jonathan Sangnoir. Originally it had been John Doe but he thought it could be a little more sophisticated and original. So he chose Jonathan because it wasn't too far of a stretch and Sangnoir had been Alec's last name as a human. Jonathan would never be a Volturi. Since Marcus was not needed for anything, he decided he could at least wait with Jonathan until he died of hunger, thirst or whatever else was wrong with him. He walked to his chambers and waited.

When Jonathan was three days old, his heart went silent and finally everything went still. Marcus didn't know if he should cry or be relieved and happy. Instead he sighed without emotion. With the baby still wrapped in the fluffy yellow towel, he walked down to the garden in the courtyard behind the palace. It was full of over grown olive, pomegranate, and pear trees, grape and ivy vines clawed its way anywhere it could. Even a small fresh water spring bubbled and flowed like fresh someone had blown it out of glass. In the very back of the garden, one lone apple tree with fruits whose skin was almost as dark as onyx perched in the moon light. This was where Marcus and Didyme shared their first kiss exactly three thousand, three hundred twenty four years, ten months and six days ago. It was also where he put her ashes, hugging the tree's trunk, after he found in a smoldering piles after she was murdered by an unknown killer. Here was the perfect place.

In a matter of seconds he dug a hole about four feet deep, and two feet by three feet wide. Completely shrouded in rubber ducky yellow, Jonathan was laid down and covered in dirt like a child getting tucked in for the night. Taking a small boulder from the spring, he carved 'Jonathan Sagnoir, The Angel'.

Later that night a young woman found herself sliding her shoes off and dangling her feet in the water of the fountain. The streets were quiet and alone. It was her favourite time because she could finally think without her loud obnoxious, psychotically religious family. Palming her grandmother's rosary beads, she cracked the pocket sized bible that had the name 'Katherine Argento'. She had gotten it as a gift from her sister when she as an early graduation present. She had lived here for the last four years with her older sister Elizabeth, brother-in-law Tommy DeLeale and screeching seven year old nephew Lorenzo living with her fantic and overly obsessive parents was too much. Every day was a threat of enteral damnation and purging ones soul and how to become the next saint. Shaking her head she hoped to rattle the dark thoughts of her mind as she took her long hair out of its confining, chaste bun. Looking at her reflection she saw her normal stark white face, black almost navy hair, tear blue eyes hugged by mile long lashes. Katherine wore a grey hand knitted sweater and ankle length black loose skirt that she hiked up to avoid getting it wet. People at school joked that she was most likely to become a nun.

Flipping to where her winking Jesus bookmark was she began reading where she left off in her favourite book of the bible, The Book of Revelations. It was the closest thing she had to a teen fantasy novel. Being only somewhat immersed in the book, she felt a paranoid sense of someone watching her. Glancing over her shoulder, all she saw was an old woman collecting laundry from her balcony. She stared at the woman go back into her house, palming the beads in her hand to calm her nerves and tell herself that she is just being silly.

Making eye contact with herself in the water, she waited for her pulse to slow. Something caught her eye. There was a small cloud of black mist dancing at the end of the alley way behind her. Curious and almost in a trance, she tucked the bible into her sweater pocket after marking the place with winky Jesus. Rosary beads in hand, she slowly walked to alley way and peaked around the corner. There waited a person in a black cloak with an unseen face and oblivion as everything turned black, she tried to scream but she could feel herself move a muscle or hear anything. Was she dead?

Katherine opened her eyes to a pain below her stomach and body covered in odd bruises. She didn't know where she was. The room was had no light, but she felt pressure on her back, which told her she was laying down. It was bouncy-ish so maybe a bed. Her hands were tied to something, possibly the bed posts. Panicing she started yelling, "Hello? What have you done to me? Where am I? Why am I here?". Her questions went unanswered.

Forks, Washington

After many days of migranes and constant focus with no outcome Alice finally saw something. She hated thinking about it, but ever since Renesmee was born and they had been associated with the wolves she was next to useless. And now it was impossible to see what the Volturi were planning for whatever reason. This new issue made it so that she was now blind to any plans for revenge or danger. It had been weeks if not months since she had a day without a head ache. She adored her niece to no end, but sometimes she resented her.

This took her by surprise. One minute she was watching America's Next Top Model, the next it felt like someone had taken a molten ax to the back of her head. The pain made her feel like she was being ripped in half by a rusty chainsaw. Now she saw just a quick flicker of an image for just a couple seconds.

She saw Caius and Aro alone in a room together. It was echoic and spacious, perhaps the throne room. Caius was clenching his jaw, furious about something. "Well that was a complete fail," he hissed with venom. "For our first experiment, it could have gone many ways. Subject one will be terminated soon and we will try again. Hopefully the next one will be better. Remember, this is just an experiment and not all results will be pleasant," Aro sighed trying to calm him down. "Hopefully Subject two will be the perfect weapon we are looking for." Then it ended.

Alice sat dazed and confused. The soreness in her head was gone and she felt numb almost. "Alice?" it was Edward. He had already seen the same scene she had witnessed. Maybe he wanted to know if she was okay or maybe he wanted to know what it all meant. What were subject one or two? This couldn't be good, whatever the Volturi were planning.


	6. Chapter 5: The Demon

Chapter 5: The Demon

Loxwood, England

As the years went by the twins slowly grew up. Once they were walking, Lila would often take them with her to gather herbs in the woods outside the village. The winter after they turned four, Avi was sent off to Normandy to fight in a battle. Lila always worried because she knew wars and battles were prime feeding grounds for vampires and often had newborn armies lurking in the catacombs and shadows. He made it home when he could but often went months without seeing his wife and children. Even though Alec was timid and barely ever talked, Lila joked that he was the man of the house. Jane normally talked for him and bossed him around from the time she could speak, like the older sister she was. Avi and Lila had a third child named Daniel. He had silver eyes and not a trace of magic in his blood.

Lila only had two fears. One was that Avi would never come home. The second was that the rest of the village would learn that they were a family of magic. For most, powers didn't surface until a witch was older, like twelve or thirteen. But for some reason theirs were triggered early.

Lila will never forget almost having a heart attack when Jane started playing with a doll made of straw while Lila was buying bread at the market and she made it burst into flames accidently. Or when Jane took something from Alec and he made all the candles in the house blowout at once. Most of the time, the twins were doing it subconsciously, not realizing what they were doing or that they had powers. If the villagers found out, they would kill them. If vampires found out, even worse. Now the twins were seven, Daniel was two and she hadn't seen Avi in three years.

At age five Lila had taught them how to read. It would be very important later on when they had to decipher spellbooks and grimoires. Trying to teach Jane was about as easy as giving a cat a bath. Alec on the other had quickly devoured books like fresh pieces of meat, memorizing pages and pages even for someone so young.

One night when Lila was gathering wolfsbane, she heard Jane talking to a stranger whose voice sounded familiar. Barely anyone traveled through the woods since they were known for monsters and thieves. When she went to go see who it was, she stopped dead when she realized she knew him. It was Avi, but he wasn't human anymore. His eyes glowed a rich red and he was as pale as snow, yet more handsome than she remembered. "Jane! Alec! Daniel! Come Here Now!" She ordered urgently trying not to cry. Grabbing their arms in a grip of steel, she fled black to their cottage. Avi did not follow, he just smirked almost amused.

"Who was that?," Jane asked innocently. "A monster. If you too ever see him again I want you to run and find me immediately. Understand?" Lila choked back a sob as she tried to keep her voice even and calm. They both nodded ignorantly confused. That night Lila cried knowing her true love was gone and in his place a vampire.

Later that night she felt herself get out of bed without thinking. Maybe she was sleep walking. "Where are you going, Mama?" Jane asked. She was the last person to see her leave. Barefoot, she walked outside and followed the path to the dark woods. Avi was there waiting. "Why did you take my children away from me?" he interrogated. "I was scared you would hurt them. You aren't their father anymore," She said dazed. "If the fact that I am a vampire makes me not their father, I could easily make you not their mother, _love_," He smirked sadistically before lunging for her neck and turning her into a blood sucking demon like him. "Being a vampire is so much better than a pathetic, weak human. We can now be unstoppable you and I. Perhaps when Jane, Alexander, Daniel are older I can turn them also. It's a gift really, my love." Lila screamed as the venom clawed its way through her veins. Once the transformation was complete, she vowed to never make contact with her children until she could control her thirst, in fear of hurting them. In time she forgave Avi and they traveled Europe together as mates. When she returned ten years later she learned that Jane and Alec had been burned at the stake as witches and were now dead. Daniel was happily working as an apprentice for their old neighbors, the silver smiths. After some convincing, Avi decided to let him live, blissfuly ignorant of the supernatural world.

Volterra Present day

Santiago, wanting to escape the tension brewing in the Building, had decided to sprint to catch a futebol game. Tonight Italy was playing Portugal. Hoping the fence, climbing under the bleachers and hanging from the rafters he had the perfect seat. Until he spotted a young woman who he saw sitting alone in the highest row of the stadium. How sad. Whenever Italy scored she would cheer, scream and dance by herself which made Santiago laugh. Intrigued he walked near her when she wasn't looking. When she noticed him, she jumped and then smiled offering him to sit next to her winking. She was pretty, with amber eyes, perfect teeth, sun streaked hair and an old futebol jersey. She had a figure and certain spark in her eyes that told him that she must play at least two sports. "COME ON, COME ON! SCORE!" She screamed not caring that a total stranger was staring at her.

Slowly throughout the game, Santiago learned that she had played futebol since she was five, thought 'The Other Guys' was the best movie so far, was single with two dogs, and her brother was one of the players on the team. The girl learned that he was from Portugal, temporarily working here as a body guard (not too far from the truth), 'Bend like Beckham' is not a chick flick, and he lived with his two "brothers" at the mansion he guarded. The game ended Italy five, Portugal three.

"My name is Christina, by the way. Would you care to grab a drink with me now that the game is over?," she flirted. Being polite, and for some reason he was interested in this human, he accepted. By the end of the night he had her number, lip stick on his cheek, and a secret girlfriend. Every night now Santiago snuck out of the Building and sprinted to meet his new found love. She did not know his secret and he thought that as long as she never found out, he technically wasn't breaking the rules.

Katherine now had a weird bulge in her stomach. Now she had come to the conclusion that she had been raped a couple days ago and whatever this thing was inside her wasn't human. Her parents had told her horror stories of demons who seduced women and used them as hosts for their devil spawn. But those were just stories her parents told her to scare her. For some odd reason she felt compelled to name it, just so that she could call whatever this thing was something. A couple weeks ago she had watch 'The Omen' and figured Damien was the perfect name for this demon child. Each day she had gotten weaker and weaker, probably since she hadn't eaten anything since she had been captured.

By the first week, she couldn't even sit up and spent almost every moment with a sense of impending doom. The only time she felt joy was the occasional nudge she would feel from inside her. Sometimes the nudge or kick from the baby would feel like she was snapping in two, but slowly it felt like Damien was trying to comfort her. She found herself deliriously saying prayers in Latin, or stories about her nephew Lorenzo, her sister Liz, and even her OCD religious parents. One morning she found herself unchained. Her captors probably figured out she was too weak to do much. With the little strength she had left she wrote a note for her hell spawn child her bible and tucked it between the mattresses. Hopefully he or she would find it one day.

On June sixth at six in the morning, after two and a half weeks of motherly Hell, she started coughing up blood and felt the baby move dramatically inside her. The baby couldn't breathe. It felt like it was going to die. It had to get out. Katherine screamed as the baby clawed its way out, desperate and threatened. It was a boy like she guessed. He had black hair like her, but odd glowing green eyes that scanned around the room like lasers. With her last bit of strength she wrapped him in one of the blankets that was on the bed and held him in her arms. Smiling and crying, she took her rosary and placed it around the tiny infant's neck, "Good bye, Damien. I love you." The last thing Katherine saw was her son's angel face and sunrise out the window.

This was not going to be good. The baby came way too early. Most pregnancies lasted at least a month, this one lasted two and a half weeks. The baby was probably already dead. Alec thought all this as he walked up to the room where he had trapped the human. Placing his ear to the door, he heard slow breathing and a heartbeat that sounded like humming bird wings. Opening the door, he found the dead human holding a bundle of fabric in her arms. Walking slowly up to the baby, he saw its eyes were closed. Not again. Hope deflating, he reached to pick up the bundle to snap the things neck, hoping to do it a favor and end its pathetic life. But as soon as he touch the blanket, the baby gasped and looked back at him with terrified green eyes. Alec almost sang for joy, this one was hopefully going to live. Picking up the baby, he realized how much smaller it was than the last one. It was definitely pre-mature, which might cause complications.

He took it into the bathroom to wash off some of the gore from ripping itself from its mother's stomach. Oddly enough he found a black, wooden rosary around the baby's neck. He recognized it as the human's. Sighing, he decided to keep it on. The baby deserved to have at least one thing to remember its mother, even if she was dead.

Alec found out it was a boy again. He hadn't really thought of any names, maybe Jane would have some ideas. Alec walked back to his room to grab some clothes for the baby. When the wives found out there were going to be 'cute' babies involved, they quickly stole Aro & Caius' credit cards and went shopping for baby clothes. By the amount of pink they bought, he knew they would be greatly disappointed that he had another boy.

After placing the small boy in a navy onesie that was way too big and feeding the baby a bottle of microwaved blood that disappeared rather quickly, Alec took him to the throne room knowing that Aro and Caius would want to see him right away. Plus Jane would kill her brother if she didn't get to be the first one to hold her new nephew. For some reason Alec couldn't stop smiling. It felt weird. Glazing back at his son he realized he had fallen asleep again, resting his too large head on Alec's shoulder. With one hand he opened the door, "Jane would you like to meet your new nephew," Alec had no idea was he was so excited, he just was.

Jane ran across the room, smiling so much it had to be painful. Startled the baby's eyes snapped open. Jane stopped suddenly as if she had seen a ghost. "Alec, his eyes! Look at them," Jane snapped warily. Before when Alec had looked at his son's eye color they were a dark, swampy green. Now they were a brilliant, glowing shade that could be seen at least a mile away. They were the color that he and his sister's had been when they were human. It was almost freaky. Somehow the baby realized everyone was staring at him, so he hid his face in the crook of Alec's neck. "Well he's for sure your kid," Jane laughed trying to break the tension. Slowly she took her nephew in her arms. At first the baby went rigid, and then relaxed but still glanced back at Alec for reassurance. Aro asked next to hold him.

As soon as Aro touched him, the baby screamed in panic almost as if it was in pain as Aro jumped back like he had been electrocuted. "That's odd," was all he said with a furrowed brow. Jane handed the boy back to Alec, who now acted like nothing had happened. Heidi, trying to distract everyone, asked, "Do you have any ideas for a name?" Caius snorted, "This thing is nothing more than a test subject. How about subject two? The dead thing can be subject one?" Realizing how unpopular that idea was among the guards, Aro had an idea, "I only got a small bit of his thought, but apparently his mother started calling him Damien and he really likes it for some reason."

It seemed like a fitting name for some odd reason. "I think Felix should be his middle name," Felix suggested. "Well why not Demitri?" argued Demitri. "Santiago is more exotic," Santiago chimed. "If we aren't going with my brilliant idea of just giving him a number, he could at least have Caius as a middle name," Caius huffed. Rolling her eyes Jane suggested that just have Damien's middle name be Alexander just to shut everyone up. "Damien Alexander Volturi. It flows oddly enough," Chelsea said halfheartedly. So it was decided.

Aro suggested holding him again to see if he could figure out what Damien's powers were, and this time he didn't panic…as much. But entire time Damien didn't really want to be held either and kept wriggling and squirming. He was either staring out the window, at the paintings lining the wall, or at the different guards glowing in the sunlight from the skylight above. Who's holding me, his grip is way too tight and his hands are cold. I want to be put down now. Where's Alec, there he is. I'm confused. Right now he was transfixed by Heidi's hair, which screamed to be pulled. Where's mom? But Jane's was a really pretty gold color. He wondered what that dark, warm liquid was that he drank earlier, it was really good and he wanted more. Where's mom? Aro, put me down this instant or I will bite you. What's that bright object outside? What is going on? Where's mom? The guy with the pale hair is really mean, I don't like him. Aro, I do not like to be man handled. Why are everyone's voices so loud? Give me back to Jane or Alec or you will burn in Hell. The guy in the corner with dark hair look sad. Where's mom? He smelled something outside, it was really sweet. Good, Alec is still there. Why is Aro looking at me like that? The man in the corner is really shiny. I'm hungry. I really really want Alec to take me back, NOW.

Aro handed him back bewildered that something so small could think so much in a matter of seconds. Everyone was holding their breaths seeing if Aro could say that he knew what Damien's power was. "I'm not sure what his power is. Reading his thoughts…they are very confusing and dizzying. I could only make out a little bit because they seemed to be going a thousand miles per hour. The only power I could possibly is that he is thoughts are very hyper active. He notices about a million things at once. Somehow he knows everyone's names and maybe knew I was a mind reader. I'm not sure psychic ADHD is a power, but it's my best guess".

It made sense. Perhaps the opposite of Alec's power was being hyper active and having acute senses. Wasn't the most powerful, but it was a lot better deal than what his half-brother got. Heidi smiled politely and asked to try holding him next. She was much gentler than Aro and Damien protested less. "He looks a lot like you. His hair is raven black like his mom's, face thinner, and lips fuller but everything else is all you. Especially the nose and eyes, he has your almond shape and long lashes," she commented as Damien started playing with her hair and earrings. He started giggling a laugh than sounded like sweet little bells randomly and Heidi turned to find Felix and Demitri making faces at Damien and she couldn't help but laugh too. Demitri seemed to smile more when she laughed. Felix she expected to be childish, but it was refreshing to see Demitri having fun considering how cold and serious he was normally. She liked him better when he relaxed and let loose.

The wives next were gushing and talking how they could dress him up like a doll and how cute his cheeks were and other estrogen stoked mush. As soon as they started to walk towards him, Damien's heart sped up and he held his arms out to Alec signaling he did not want to be held by them and he wanted to be taken back. Once Alec was holding him again, his heart slowed down, his eyes itched and head felt really heavy. Rubbing his face he rested his head on Alec's shoulder. "He looks really tired, maybe we should put him off to bed," Jane suggested. She also knew that they game of pass the baby could go on forever and if this kid was anything like her brother, he probably hated being held.

Alec realized that they didn't have a crib. So picking between using a laundry basket full of towels or a box, he chose to just hold Damien while Alec read on the small couch in his room. He grabbed a soft black knit, blanket and wrapped the baby in it. Laying down slowly, with Damien facing him, he picked up the book he was about to start, 'The Odyssey'. He had read it about a hundred times, but always thought it was a fantastic story. Damien roused curious by the paper object in his hand, looking waiting for him to open and possibly read it. Thinking what the heck, he started reading aloud the first book, with Damien listening. By the last page in Book One, Damien was deeply asleep lying asleep curled up on Alec's chest. Checking the time, Alec realized it was 9:12am.

Damien didn't wake up until around 6:15pm. Demitri, being a science enthusiast, suggested weighing and measuring Damien each day so keep track of his rapid. "Four pounds, two ounces. Nine and a quarter inches. He's small for a newborn. Yet he's stronger, which is definitely the vampire in him. Most newborns can't lift their heads or move at all. This one is a mover and is constantly active," Demitri noted marking everything in a spiral notebook. Out of curiosity he tried to see if Damien could sit up on his own. He sat up for a couple seconds before falling backwards and lying on his back. There he proceeded to try and roll on to his tummy, which proved to be harder than it looked. A couple minutes later he got it and pushed his upper body up and smile victoriously at Jane.

Demitri also measured the amount of blood Damien drank throughout his first week. At first it was six ounces, three times a day or rather night. Damien tended to sleep all during the day and be active all night long. Jane had the idea of mixing a little bit of baby formula in his bottle with the blood, since Damien was still very much underweight only gaining two ounces since he was born. Slowly he got to be at least the normal size a newborn in a couple days. By the end of the week he looked to be about four months old, was able to sit up on his own, roll around, and stand up if someone was holding both his hands. The only thing that everyone found surprising was that he barely made noise. Except for the occasional grunt or whimper to signal that he was hungry or uncomfortable, or when Felix tried to make him laugh (which only worked sometimes, other times it scared Damien), never made a sound. Not a single infant wail, cry, or baby babble vowels.

Another thing that was weird was that Damien was not venomous. They had heard from Nahuel when they were battling the Cullens that most if not all male hybrids were venomous. Jane and Alec were quiet happy about this considering if Damien went too long without being fed he tended to nip or bite lightly. Alec couldn't wait until Damien would be able to hunt for himself because it was difficult to control his own thirst whenever he was getting a bottle for Damien. The microwave door was a savior sometimes. Luckily Jane helped out sometimes, even though Chelsea dubbed her and Alec "teen mom" or "little miss sixteen and pregnant". Jane would just remind her that she was only fifteen and she was just jealous that she couldn't have a kid.

Jane loved it when ever Damien gave Chelsea the stink eye when she tried to hold him, even better when he nipped her. Alec never knew a child so young could pick favorites. The only people Damien ever allowed to be held by willingly were Alec, Jane, and occasionally Demitri or Heidi. If anyone else tried he would bury his face in Alec's chest, cling to his shoulders, and struggle out his captors grasp sometimes to the point where they would nearly drop him. For some reason Alec liked that Damien didn't really like anyone else but him and Jane. It made the three of them feel like family, especially since they were the only ones in the guard who were related by blood.

Jane was almost always willing to help out with Damien. The few times Aro needed him to do a quick chore, or Demitri needed help with something, or whatever random thing someone needed help with, Jane would often hold Damien. While Damien normally slept during the day with Alec, Jane was better about getting him to fall asleep with naps during the night. He caught her resting him on her hip, swaying back and forth humming a random tune with Damien fighting to keep his eyes open, but eventually being subdue by the soothing vibration and feel of Jane slowly rubbing circles on his back with her thumb. For some odd reason, it reminded Alec of when they were younger, after their mom had disappeared, about how Jane was the one who looked after Daniel the most. It made him happy with sadness to see one of the most damaged, sadistic killers have such a maternal instinct.

Alec found himself smiling and talking more, just randomly narrating things that were going on or reading thing allowed. Damien always seemed interested or would give him confused looks asking him to explain more. At about two weeks old, he looked about nine months old. Slowly whenever Alec read a book in the Odyssey, Damien's eyes would be scanning the words almost if he was reading them too. Out of curiosity, Alec wrote Point to your nose on a piece of paper. Damien pointed to his nose. Raise your right hand. Damien raised his left and then realized it was the wrong hand and switched. Hoping to trip him up he wrote 'Vel ad ostium '(point to the door in Latin). He pointed to the door. Amazed he ran into the Television room to find the other guards. "Quick, write random simple commands in as many languages as possible," he ordered, "I think I might have figured out Damien's power".

Demetri wrote several in Russian and Slavic. Heidi wrote a couple in German and French. Santiago wrote three in Portuguese, four in Spanish. Damien did them all from 'point to your toes' to 'touch your ears' to 'point south' flawlessly. "Maybe we can try saying commands and see if he can understand them orally," Demitri suggested. Again, he was able to 'stick out his tongue', 'wiggle his fingers', and 'point to the tv' in about ten different languages. Even Marcus, who hadn't said anything in weeks, spoke up "Toccare il mento" (touch your chin in Italian). Damien pointed to the window. Marcus smirked, "Puntare al divano" (Point to the couch). Damien grabbed his owns ear and looked bewildered with a dash of confused. "Perhaps it doesn't always work," Alec sighed. He should probably go see Aro to see if he could figure out what was going on with his son.

Aro again had difficulty reading Damien's thoughts. "From what I can guess, every language looks the same to him. It's like his eyes and ears have a built it decoder. I'm still not sure if this is a power or not," Aro's brow furrowed and looked like he about to go into his scary plotting slash thinking mode. "Perhaps, we could ask Elezar to pay us a visit? Maybe he will have an insight on the ordeal?" Marcus suggested. It was the most logical idea.

"No that is a ridiculous idea. Elezar is an ally and close friend to the Cullens. It would be best if we kept any and all hybrids a secret until we know for sure how we can use them," Caius argued with a voice that could freeze fire, "After all it was probably just luck that the thing guess what people were saying or writing. He failed to do what Marcus wrote and said, so whatever he can do is faulty at best and is not fool-proof."

And so it was decided that the Volturi themselves would try and figure out what Damien's gift was. It was also agreed that he and any future hybrids would be kept secret from other vampires and the outside world as long as possible.

Forks, Washington

Renesmee was close to breaking the car in half she was so excited. Momma and daddy said she could now have play dates at Jacob's house! The rapid hybrid aging had slowed significantly in comparison to when she was first born. They guessed that she looked like a big six year old or a small seven year old now and Bella almost had to lecture Edward that Nessie had to learn how to be more independent, keeping her so close to them did more harm than good, and that both Jacob and Nessie had been deeply depressed lately. So daddy now allowed her to spend every Monday and Thursday, ten in the morning to three in the afternoon to let Jacob babysit, especially since Bella promised that they could now spend more time _alone _together.

As they pulled up the gravel driveway, Edward complained about it scratching his car as Nessie sprung from the car to jump into Jacob's arms. "Jake! Jake! Jake! I just finished a new math workbook," she squealed proudly. Esmee had gotten her a few paper back workbooks to help with homeschooling. This morning she had finished the Algebra II book she started last week, all three hundred pages of it. Every time she finished a workbook, she got to have control of the TV for a full twenty-four hours. It was like pure gold since she was too young, or more like too sheltered, to get any of the south park episodes Uncle Emmett always watch, not smart enough to get the documentaries Grandpa Carlisle and Uncle Jasper watch, and didn't find the Bachelor all that amazing like Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosie.

Edward watched with a critical glare as his baby girl and the dog walking inside and shut the door. _I hope Nessie knows tea parties only work when you drink tea, otherwise they are just pointless. Oh God no! Not the pink tiara. Wait is that a camera in Pop's hands. FML_, Edward laughed as he read Jacob's thoughts. "Watch you language, Jacob. I know plenty well what 'FML' means," Edward yelled from outside. Then he froze when he heard, "Jake, what does 'FML' mean?" Renesmee asked innocently.

Knowing Edward was right outside, Jacob chose his words very carefully, "Friends making laughs. I was just thinking about how funny it is that you hate the taste of tea, yet you always want to have tea parties."

Her eyes went wide with an amazing idea, "Wait, can we use blood instead of tea? Pretty please with a cherry on top. Please!"

"Absolutely not!" Billy said firmly. He was tickled pink Jacob finally imprinted, but he wasn't too keen on the imprintee being a bloodsucker.

Edward drove out of the driveway slowly and high tailed it back home where Bella was waiting. The spent all day alone together in their cottage. Maybe Renesmee spending time with Jacob wasn't so bad.


	7. Chapter 6: The Schism

62 BC Northern Italy

"Argus! Tyre! Get inside this instant! And for the love of the gods, get off your brother and stop strangling him, Felix," Penelope shouted juggling the two screaming toddlers on her wide hips. Her dark hair was tied back, attempting to hide the grey streaks. Most of them had come from her second youngest boy, Felix, given that he got into fights with anything at moved it seems. Just last week she caught him getting into a skirmish with a one of the younger foot soldiers, purely out of boredom. He never had a temper, was exceptionally bloodthirsty, or some sort of hubris pride, he just wanted to see if he could best another's strength like a childish game smiling and laughing. People joked that maybe he was a demigod of Aries he was home telling stories of guts and glory, tales of conquest & courage. Poor Felix wanted to be just like him when he got older. He was eight now, so hopefully she still had time with her darling boy.

In a blur of dirt, dark curls, impish joy, and one bloody nose the three boys came into the house. Argus was ten, Felix eight, Tyre six, Octavia was three, and Ana was almost two. Her eldest daughters Rita was fifteen and married, while Jillian was twelve and worked as an apprentice for a potter. Life was constantly hectic.

Just as she was about to turn inside to join them, a young man in a military uniform appeared at the door. "Excuse me ma'am, I believe your son live here," he asked rather sternly. "Oh my, I am so sorry about him. Is this about the fight that broke out last week among one of your men with my son? I already talked to him and he promised not to do it again," Penelope said quickly, Felix could get in serious trouble with the authorities if they knew about the fight.

"I am actually. I would like to personally ask your son to come and train in the barracks. I saw the fight myself and I see the potential for a great warrior," He beamed. Felix perked up at this, almost mowing his baby sisters down. He was going to be a soldier just like his dad! A couple minutes later, Felix rubbed his cheek where his mother had kissed him and said goodbye to the home he would never see again for another century.

Present Day Volterra

Aro's mood had soften significantly since he found out there was a strong chance Damien would have some sort of gift. "Well I guess subject two isn't a complete bust. At worse he can translate languages, even if he still isn't talking yet," Caius shrugged trying to sound removed. Aro knew deep down he was also excited. "I was thinking the same thing, dear brother. Perhaps we are to create another? I was thinking it would be best to have a maybe another fighter, since we for sure will have someone with a psychic ability. Felix seems the most enthusiastic about this experiment, so I was going to talk to him," Aro mused.

It was true. Aro knew that Felix had always wanted a son, even before he was a vampire. Plus given his history of…affairs…he wouldn't mind conceiving one. Finally, his plans were running its course.

His schoolboy, evil villain glee was interrupted by a vampire he had never met before bursting through the large maple doors at around noon. He had the obvious pale skin and red eyes framed by a pointy face wrapped in close cropped blond hair. He was about five foot, nine and was rather slim. An expensive, burgundy silk suit clung to him in a way that screamed _I am posh, worship me_. "I am here to speak to the leaders of the so called Volturi. I have witnessed a vampire that has broken the rule of secrecy among humans," he announced in a highly accented voice, most likely French.

"Welcome dear friend our home," Aro extended his hand for a shake, and to of course read his thoughts. At first the vampire looked at the hand like a piece of dirty laundry, but then shook his hand bitterly. His name was Frederick and had been a vampire for about a hundred and fifty years. The thoughts about the crime revolved around a newborn he turned accidently three years ago, named George Letuteur. Frederick, following the rules had taught him all the laws and made sure George could survive independently before cutting him out of his life completely. He was a stupid college student, who had no experience of real, true culture. George was a stupid nuisance and Frederick was doing him a favour by now having him executed. A month ago he ran into him by accident and learned that he had told his sister his secret, but wasn't planning to turn her. Smiling, and repressing the urge to put this condescending dick in his place by speaking Fredericks most private thoughts aloud, Aro let go of this posh piece of garbage's hand.

"I'll send a few of my guards to investigate. There is no need to worry, dear Frederick," Aro soothed paternalistically. Frederick huffed, raising his nose high, and walked delicately out the door. Glad to be rid of him, Aro relaxed slightly. He found no evidence that this Frederick had any awareness of the hybrid. In his thoughts he planned to just come and leave as soon as possible, nothing in the Building interested him. The secret was still safe. But it also meant the next step in his plan would go on hold. He would need to send Jane and Alec out, along with Demetri and Felix. He didn't know how long the mission would take.

He quickly summoned the guards. Demetri and Felix were rejuvenated to have another mission, since it had been months now. But, Jane and Alec surprised him. Annoyingly enough they had grown quite attached to the half-breed, and asked if they could just waited until Damien was slightly older until they went back into field work again. Alec didn't trust anyone to watch his kid and worried how long they would be gone. Aro assured him that they would keep an eye on him. Damien was now three weeks old, although he looked about eleven or twelve months old, and was just figuring out how to walk.

A couple days ago, he could almost stand, pulling himself up onto anything he could find. Then he tried stepping away from what he was holding to fall over constantly. After hours of determination he finally got in a couple steps before his too large of a head caused him to topple over. Now it seemed like he spent every waking moment trying to get the hang of walking, to the point where he rarely let even Jane or Alec carry him. Except for when he got really sleepy, then it was fine.

Alec was also worried because Damien's appetite had also increased Instead of the six or eight ounces every other day like before, he now drank a blood bag each day. Hopefully this was a sign that he would be ready to feed from the source soon.

Begrudgingly the twins left, although Alec was constantly worrying because Damien was still asleep in Alec's room when they left. By four in the afternoon, the four guards were sprinting on foot, soaring to France. It would take about five hours to run to get to where Aro wanted them to go, a small apartment in the outskirts of Paris.

Aro then asked his wife Sulpicia and Athenodora to babysit Damien. He knew they would be overjoyed to watch him. Unfortunately Aro hadn't yet clued in that they were the two least responsible people ever. They said that they would watch Damien, but completely neglected their duties.

Damien woke up to a silent, pitch dark room. Alone. Where was Alec? Slowly he pushed himself up so that he was sitting up. It was a little bit of a struggle since he was tangled up in the black knitted blanket that Alec always kept on the back of the couch. Damien loved it because it smelled like Alec and made him feel safe. Looking around at the static shadows of old clothes, an open closet, books that Alec had not yet returned to the master library, and other items, Damien saw that the backpack in the closest was now gone along with some of the clothes off the floor. He was also trapped up here on the couch. It was a good two foot drop to the floor, which seemed stories high to him. It would be best to just wait for Alec to pick him up and set him on the floor.

Out of boredom he started sucking on one of the corners of the blanket. It drove Alec crazy, but it was sort of a nervous habit. If he wasn't sucking on the edge of the blanket, he was idling chewing or sucking on the end of the sleeve of his shirt or onesie. Not enough to ever damage anything, it just made whatever was in his mouth soggy, wrinkly and slobbery. Putting stuff in his mouth and sucking on it was one of the few human baby traits he had.

His mouth started to feel dry so he stopped. Damien was starting to get worried. Maybe Jane was coming for him? He decided to play with the odd thing around his neck. He remembered someone calling a rosary, but he didn't remember who. He didn't remember getting it either, but he had always been wearing ever since he could remember. But he had the feeling it was important and that he could never take it off. The smooth black, wooden beads felt cool like stones in his hand. Soothing and warm from his high body temperature. Damien wondered what the lower case t was at the bottom was and what the disfigured man was hanging of it.

He had no idea how long he had been waiting staring at the floor. Hunger was slowly starting to settle in along with thirst. His throat felt bone dry and stomach kept making a funny noise. He couldn't get his lip to stop trembling and felt his breathing speed up. Don't panic, he will be back any second now with a bottle of that dark liquid. It tasted so good. Alec's room, like all the vampires' chambers, had heavy curtain that shielded them from the sun and outside world. There was a very subtle difference between day and night. The room slowly became lighter and Damien felt his eye start to feel heavy. Laying back down on his back he thought that maybe he would just fall back asleep and Alec would be back when he woke up. Except for some reason he couldn't fall back asleep. Wrapping himself in the Alec scented blanket, Damien felt hallow when he realized something. This was the first time he had gone to bed without Alec reading aloud, or Jane humming. She had a pretty voice. It didn't help that he was starving.

The room became dark again. Still no Alec or Jane. Not even Demetri, who would normally measuring him. He needed to get off the couch and maybe then he could go see where they were. He couldn't take being hungry more, it had now become painful to the point where his throat burned and stomach ached. _Drop it's not that far_. Rolling onto his stomach, he slowly lowered himself down to the ground. He started panicking when realized that just arms were clinging to the couch for dear life and his feet still didn't touch the ground. Damien tried pulling himself back up, but he couldn't do it. He would have to drop.

He tried to let go as slowly as possible, but he ended up crashing to the floor. Landing on his butt and banging his head on the stone floor and he fell backwards. The pain was explosive at first as his vision went dark for a couple seconds. Whimpering he pealed his eyes open, somehow the room was light again. Maybe it wasn't just a couple seconds. His head ached along with his throat burning. Wearily he sat up, looking around. Damien was on the floor now. There was a small bit of a dark red liquid that looked similar to what Alec had fed him where his head had hit. He was tempted to try drinking it to ease some of the pain in his throat, but it smelt _different_.

Damien crawled over to door. Slowly, using the closed door for balance, he reached for the doorknob. Freedom was within his grasp. He'd be able to find Alec! He was pretty sure he could figure out how to open the door, he'd seen Alec to it at least twenty times. You just have to grab it and turn your wrist. But he was too small and even stretched out as far as he could, he was at least five inched too short from even touching it. Damien slumped down in defeat. How long had he been trapped in the room? Four days? How much longer.

A strange tightness in his throat strangled Damien, making the pain even more intense than before. His vision blurred as water pooled in his eyes. He couldn't stop shaking. If someone, anyone, could let him out! Without realizing Damien fell asleep curled up against the door.

Waking up each night was now becoming agonizing. Damien hadn't fed in a week, he lost count after eight days. His clothes felt too small, smelled funny, and made his skin itch. Damien normally always felt warm, now he felt ice cold. He didn't bother getting up he was going to die. Maybe that was a good thing. Perhaps Alec and Jane and everyone was already dead and this way he could see them again. Damien's heartbeat and breathing had already slowed significantly.

Then he heard footsteps. They stopped in front of the door. Someone was coming to let him out. Damien scooted out of the way of the door and bolted to stand up fighting a weird dizziness, so it could open without snowplowing him. The old wooden door creaked open, releasing light that temporarily blinded his sensitive eyes that had not seen bright light in such a long time. Without thinking, Damien shouted his first word, "ALEC!"

The bright spots faded from his eyes and Damien's soul felt like it had been shredded in a blender as he crumpled to the ground, all strength leaving him. It was Marcus.

Marcus felt a dagger go through his heart when he heard Damien speak. The sweet magical joy of a boy seeing his father was deflated by his own presence. Marcus also noticed how weak Damien looked. He must have been trapped in there since the guards had left. That was fifteen days ago. Looking closely Marcus saw that the child was deathly pale with dark bruises under his wide, terrified eyes. Oddly enough his eyes were no longer the vibrant, cat-like green, but a ravenous, cold black. Just like an underfed vampires. The boy had indeed aged. Two weeks and a half ago he looked about ten or eleven months, now he looked almost two.

Scooping the now toddler up, he carried him through the many hallways. There was a small kitchen, next to an actual bedroom for when they had a human receptionist. In the fridge was just blood bags. Marcus glanced back at the child to find that his eyes were closed, and body completely limp. Slowly he set him down on the counter, resting his back against the wall. Fight the bloodlust, he poured the contents of the blood bag into a bottle and microwaved it for a minute.

"Damien, wake up. You need to feed," Marcus commanded calmly. He twitched slightly, but that was it. Marcus shook him gently, trying to push the thought of how much Damien looked like his half-brother Jonathan right now. The hybrids eyes fluttered and slowly pealed open. They widen as soon as he saw the blood, gaze unwavering. Marcus handed him the blood and watched the parched toddler devour the blood. _Drink_. A little less than a minute, the bottle was empty. Damien's eyes were now a forest green and looked at Marcus pleading for more. Marcus didn't even heat the next one up. Damien drank this one slower, not as desperate or rushed. "Thank you, sir. For everything," a small angelic voice whispered.

It took a moment to realize Damien was the one who spoke…and to him. Damien looked into his eyes unfaltering, like he knew what Marcus had done after Jonathan died. Now that his eye colour was back to normal and he was fully awake. Damien could easily pull off looking like a small two year old, with rosy round cheeks and fast beating heart. Yet he was now only a month old. Marcus noticed that Damien's clothes were way too small now and he hadn't had a bath in a while.

"Where's Alec?" the same sweet, angel voice asked as Marcus silently lifted him off the counter and sat him down on the ground. Damien's wobbly toddler walk was nothing compared to Marcus' immortal glide, but he was able to keep up to go to the bathroom to get him cleaned up.

Damien now wore a pair of small jeans and a navy polo with tennis shoes. It felt weird to have big boy clothes on, considering he was use to the soft cotton onesies. His thick, jet black hair was much longer and covered the back of his neck and ears even. Marcus thought, minus the black hair and green eyes, he looked even more like Alec than he did two weeks ago when they found out he could read in several languages.

Damien had done it perfectly, but Marcus wanted to see if he was genuinely reading the words or something else. While Marcus had spoken a command, he thought about a different command and visualized Damien doing that instead. Although he told Damien to touch his chin, he thought about Damien pointing outside. Next he thought several things at once. Instead Damien tried to block out the supposedly real sound. Whenever Aro tried to read Damien's thought, he complained that they were too fast and it seemed like there was several at once. Marcus had his other theories about what Damien could do.

They walked together to the throne room to find Aro. Marcus had a few choice words for him and his wife's amazing ability at being a 'mother' for one week. Marcus wondered if he hadn't gone down to check on him, how much longer the kid would have lasted. Plus he was now at the age that he could possibly have his own room and bed. He couldn't sleep in Alec's room forever.

Marcus found Sulpicia and Athenodora holding bags of designer clothes that they had just bought that night and being over affectionate with Aro and Caius. Aro caught them in the corner of his eye. He saw Marcus holding the hand of a dark haired child who barely came up to his waist. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked skeptically, not recognizing the child as the baby he was used to seeing. "I believe your wives forgot something. Which is odd considering we have perfect memories," Marcus pondered rhetorically. Sulpicia rushed up to Damien and bent down cooing in a fake baby voice, "Oh my wittle dear, I am so sowwy. How about you give your auntie Sulpicia a hug?"

Damien stepped away, dodging her while he held a glare that reminded her a lot of Jane, "You are not my aunt, you stupid selfish bitch!"

The entire room was stunned. No one had ever heard him speak, let alone a whole sentence. Something deep down inside of him screamed _Run_. With several pairs of crimson eyes trained on him, he turned around and sprinted out of the throne room. Damien had never run before, but it felt natural and exhilarating. Flying down the labyrinth of corridors, a weird maniac laugh bubbled out his throat. _Left, then left again_, something in his mind ordered

"Damien!" a voice called, "Stop this instant!" Someone was chasing him, which oddly seemed to make him feel more alive. Damien didn't know where he was running too, his subconscious was the pilot. "Damien!" the voice was closer.

He came to a set of glass doors. Behind them he saw shelves of colorful rectangles. Books. This was the library. Ducking inside he tried to find a place to hide. _There's a gap between the wall and shelf on books about Medieval art, you can hide in there. The wall and books will absorb the sound of you heartbeat_. He didn't know how he knew this. He had heard the same voice when everyone was putting scribbles on a piece of paper. He recognized the words in English and Italian, but the others he didn't know that they meant. Damien had just listened to the voice in his head.

He heard footsteps pass by the library door and continue down the hallway. He was safe for now. Once his heartbeat stopping ringing in his ears and he could breathe normally, Damien realized how tired he was. The gap he had curdled up in was surprisingly cozy. _Sleep, you will know when if they get closer. _

Damien sighed, closing his eyes, hoping he could trust this weird voice. He didn't know why he called Sulpicia what he did, it wasn't like him to do that. Or why he started running and couldn't stop. Was he going to get in trouble? The door creaked. Damien's eyes snapped open. "You seriously don't think subject two escaped outside?" it was Caius and Aro with the wives trailing behind. Damien held his breath, hoping they wouldn't find him. Stay still, they haven't seen you yet.

"No dear brother, I think he is lucky that he has even eluded us this long. Plus all the doors are locked with alarms," Aro argued. By his tone of voice he was quiet irritated, yet oddly proud. "Perhaps we should call Demetri," Aro suggested. "And have to admit babysitting one stupid, half-breed was too much for the great Volturi Family?" Athenodora sneered. "Well it was your idea to go shopping in Milan all week!" Sulpicia seethed, she could be trying out that new nail polish by now. This was so not her fault. Embracing his wife Aro whispered, "Patience, mio amore, this is the last room that we need to check." Caius was losing his patience though.

"I say we flip over every fucking book case until that little shit pops up," Caius growled angrily as he threw a bookcase against the wall. Damien felt the vibrations and he put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from making any noise. Another, then another. Caius was getting closer. "Where are you, you little coward?" Caius chuckled sadistically. A fourth flew, this time it crashed against the bookcase Damien was hiding behind. The sound was like thunder and rang in his ears for a couple seconds. Debris and plaster from the wall made his eyes burn and tear up.

"Brother, please contain yourself. You are getting no were. The only reason he ran is that he is scared and surrounded by strangers that he knows are lethal. After all he has been imprisoned for the last two and a half weeks. I know he trusts none of us," it was Marcus, maybe Damien had a chance.

"Damien, if you are in here, please come out from wherever you are hiding," Marcus shouted, "I promise none of us are going to hurt you." _Come out now, this is your best shot._ Damien pushed against the rubble of the bookcase, it didn't budge. "I can't. I'm trapped," Damien cried out. Marcus followed the sound of his voice to find the pile of ancient texts and old wood book cases blocking the gap. Marcus dug him out in three seconds flat before lifting him from the rabbit hole. Once he was free, his stomach sunk to his knees when he saw the livid expression on Caius's face and the deep scowl on Aro's. "Damien, please apologize to my wife for calling her a bitch, for running away, and destroying the library," Aro said with teeth bared.

Damien wanted for some reason to scream at them and say it wasn't his fault. That Sulpicia had left him for dead. That Aro and Caius were terrible leaders. That Caius was the one who tore apart the library and left stuff in ruins. That he just wanted Alec and Jane back. _Just do it. Lie they won't know the difference. _Fists clenched, Damien spoke his first lie, using his angel sweet voice to his advantage, "I am sorry for calling you a mean name. I didn't mean it. I am also sorry for running. I won't do it again. I'm sorry there was damage in the library." The last part was true. Half the books in here were hand written and older than half the guards.

Marcus convinced Aro to let Damien off the hook, but he would keep an eye on him until Alec returned. The tension slowly faded throughout the week. Damien got his own room, it was on the bottom floor, which was two stories below the ground. Aro didn't trust him with a room with a window, in case he tried to escape for some reason. It was painted dark blue and the only furniture was a wooden closet that had all the clothes he would need until he was mature in seven years, a wooden desk, a mirror, and a full size bed that felt too big. Damien made sure he grabbed the black blanket from Alec's room. His scent was fading, but it still helped Damien sleep. Damien liked having his own room and liked that he was now tall enough to reach the doorknob.

The following week Marcus showed him how to open the fridge and use the microwave. There was now a small step stool Damien used to reach the countertop and shelves. Now Damien was in charge of feeding himself with the blood bags out of the fridge. He was also in charge of getting dressed by himself. He never knew that there could possibly be so many options and combinations for clothing.

Slowly Damien became very independent and spent most of the day in the library reading, watching movies in the vacant TV room, or sometimes talking with Marcus. He liked Marcus, not just because he had saved his life now twice, but Damien knew that deep down Marcus was compassionate and had interesting stories to tell about gladiator battles, about the one time he was sailing to Greece and his ship got attacked by pirates, about how Caius once got attacked by a pack of werewolves and has been frighten of them ever since. Marcus gradually began to integrate Italian, French, and Latin into their conversations, encouraging Damien to speak also. In two weeks he was able to speak fluently in all three. Although Marcus rarely showed it, he adored Damien and liked having someone to talk to who listened. He hadn't realized how lonely the last couple centuries had been. He even told Damien about how he met Didyme, laughing when Damien looked grossed out when he talked about kissing and romance.

But Marcus was also very concerned about Damien. The boy had no interest or loyalty towards Aro or Caius and to a point despised them. He didn't really trust any of the guards and was paranoid of them. Plus now Damien felt abandoned by Alec and Jane, not trusting them either. Even before Alec left, Damien had an odd relationship with him. He didn't really think of Alec as a father, but more like a big brother. He relied on him and looked up to him, but not much more than that. Now that Damien was speaking, not once had he heard him call Alec "dad" or "father". Damien had also stopped asking where Alec was after about two days. Oddly enough Marcus sensed that Damien still had emotional ties to his dead mother and wondered where she was. Damien also didn't feel lonely and now preferred to be alone. There was no desire for friends and knew Damien only spoke to Marcus because he grew tired of doing nothing but reading or watching tv. None of that could be healthy for a child so young. Marcus saw an odd darkness brewing in the Halfling child.

Another two weeks passed and Damien now looked like a small four year old. Damien was sketching in a black note book he found in the semi-destroyed library when he heard voices and a group of vampires walking down the hallway. Through the glass doors he saw four black cloaked figures walk by on their way to the throne room. Who were they?

Paris, France Five weeks ago

The guards arrived before morning at a large hotel. Busy hotels were safest because they were forgotten once the bill was paid. Jane and Alec in one room, Felix and Demetri in another joined by a door. At dusk they would investigate the address Aro gave them. Hopefully this would all be over in less than a week.

At dusk, all four slipped out of the rooms in street clothes that would not attract attention. Jane wore a simple grey pleated skirt that went just past her knees, a black cardigan, black tights with flats that she could easily run in. A lighter was tucked into a secret pocket in case on an emergency. The guys all wore black slacks, grey dress shirts with blazers. In a mass populated city, no one would bat an eye or look twice.

The apartment they went to was small and cramped. The landlord said in belonged to a young women named Joan Letuteur who was last home two days ago. Secretly searching the apartment, there was a faint smell of a human and a vampire. Demetri now had his scent and could track him easily. Focusing on the trail, Demetri sensed that George and Joan had taken a train to Germany and were on the run there.

Packing their bags, the Volturi were on the hunt. As soon as they reached the border, their prey had moved to Poland and then Lithuania. The guards would chase them across the entire world in they could. After three weeks of a non-stop wild goose chase, they found them hiding in a hotel room in Seville, Spain. Alec cast his dark mist upon them blocking out everything around them but the sound of Jane's voice, "Surrender now and your suffering shall be quick."

They both bowed their heads in defeat. "I apologize for my crime. But we are the only family we have left. Frederick is just tattling on me to have you do his dirty work. Yes I told my sister about our world, but she has known for several years. Joan swore to never tell anyone and no one besides her knows about the supernatural world," George pleaded almost on his knees.

"We won't fight or run from our punishment, but I beg of you, find some way to spare my sister. It was my decision and own fault I told her. If there was any way to make her less of a liability besides turning her, we'll do it. I understand you have not had a human secretary in a while," George continued. This interested the guards. Although they had been hounding these two across the continent, George was giving himself up without a fight in order to have his sister live. Joan seemed to be in her late twenties, early thirties and was quiet pretty. It would be nice to have a secretary that they didn't have to lie to about turning.

Felix dialed the simple flip phone Aro had given them. "Hello sir. Yes I understand we are taking so long…there's not… I just wanted to ask if you had put an ad out for a new sectary?...Yes I know…I'll put her on the phone right now," Felix handed Joan the phone. Aro asked Joan how much education she had, what job experience she had, how queasy she was around dead bodies, the usual job interview questions an employer would ask. She was hired.

Unfortunately George had broken the law still. Out of an odd sense of mercy, Jane said that they had a week together before they executed George. But if they tried to run, she would personally torture them for hours before slowly burning them piece by piece. The Letuteurs spent the week traveling the beautiful Spanish city of Seville. On the seventh day Joan hugged and kissed her brother good-bye. She didn't watch him slowly burn away. Joan felt oddly relieved when she discovered Alec made sure he felt no pain.

The guards traveled back to apartment to clean out her apartment, gather her bags, and set her affairs in order. She told her friends she got a job as a nanny for a rich family in Italy, which wasn't too far from the truth. With her rent paid, bank account emptied, and loose ends tied, Joan disappeared from the human world to permanently live in the city of Volterra. A week after her last family member died, Joan entered the door to the Building she would now call home. Along the way Aro told Felix to impregnate a women and create a second hybrid.

Jane and Alec were relieved to be home. After checking in with Aro, they were dismissed. Alec wanted to know where Damien was immediately, he hadn't seen him in over a month. Aro informed him about the incident of him being trapped in Alec's room for over two weeks, of him yelling at Sulpicia, hiding in the library, and his odd new friendship with Marcus. Marcus said he had last seen Damien doodling in the library.

Alec flitted, excited to see his son. He wondered if Damien would be excited to see him again? Opening the door, Jane right on his heels, he found a small child with dark hair, holding a pencil in his left hand, attention locked on whatever he was drawing. "Damien, I'm home," Alec said calmly. The boy looked up from his drawing of a raven, his face void of expression. Damien didn't know why he didn't feel elated to happy Alec was finally home. He felt anger, hurt, confusion, frustration, and disgusted all at once. The air felt thick and like it was suffocating him. _Say something, pretend you're happy to see him._

"Hello Alec, how was Paris?" Damien said robotically. Alec forced a smile. He was excited his son had learned to talk, but sad that he had spoken his first words without him and didn't seem happy to see him. An odd feeling of guilt washed over him. Damien had changed significantly while Alec was gone. Now his son clenched up whenever he tried to pick him up. Damien gave him weird looks when he tried to fix a blood bag up for him. Now it seemed like Damien was out right avoiding Alec and Jane.

While the twins and Damien were having family issues, Felix was bursting with excitement. He was going to be a father in less than three weeks. He couldn't decide if he wanted a boy or a girl. A boy would be great, because he would have a blast teaching him how to fight and playing with him. But he wouldn't mind spoiling his baby girl rotten. It would be hilarious to intimidate any boyfriends that ever considered being worthy for her.

On August twenty-eighth a screaming baby girl was born. Felix named her Olivia Venus. She had dark brown ringlets, wide hazel eyes, full pink lips, and a beautiful olive tone skin. Everyone joked she looked like the Italian poster child and would for sure be a heart breaker one day. Olivia loved the attention and being coddled by everyone. Plus the guards loved that she was much more open than Damien was and is.

Damien hated the new baby. It was constantly screaming nonsensical vowels, squealing when someone tickled her, and cried when Damien ignored her. Plus Damien hated that he got in trouble for making the poor baby cry. Now that Aro knew that there was success with hybrids he ordered Santiago and Demetri to also make one of their own. Aro also wanted Afton to make one, but Chelsea threatened to leave the guard if Aro had Afton so much as hold hands with another woman.


	8. Chapter 7: Santiago

42 BC Northern Italy

Felix had climbed the ranks faster than anyone had seen in a long time. Built like an ox he towered six foot eight and was nearly three hundred pounds in pure muscle. Every fight he faced, he was unstoppable. Felix was now almost twenty nine and already had control over his own legion. Yet, he was unmarried. He could have any woman he want, but he didn't want to leave the battle field. There was too much action and glory to gain. If he needed a female's company he simple went to one of the many brothels. His life was pure heaven, yet it still wasn't enough.

One night, after a victorious boxing match, a pale man in a dark robe with long black hair approached him, "Excuse me sir. Are you by chance the victor of the boxing match?" Felix nodded confused. In a blink of an eye, the man grabbed his bare arm in an icy, iron grasp. "You my friend are a man of true talent. I am building an army and I chose only the finest of soldiers."

Felix pulled his arm away forcefully. "My loyalty lies purely to the Roman Empire," Felix grunted. He tried not to show it but he was very interested by this man. He was too much of a bean pole to be a soldier, why was he recruiting soldiers. "Let me see if I can convince you otherwise. I, dear friend, am an immortal. If you join my army I promise you will be a god among men, basking in eternal glory. You will be forever youthful and stronger than you will ever imagine," the man now had Felix's full attention. "For the love of the gods Aro, just bite him already," a second man whined. Bite? Felix backed away slowly, muscles aching for a fight. He could easily take both of them down, they were so much smaller than him.

Felix threw the hardest punch he could into the dark haired one's jaw, catching him off guard. To Felix's surprise it was like punching a brick wall, shattering the bones in his hands. Ignoring the pain he turned around and tackled the second man to the ground. Suddenly a searing pain spread through his shoulder and he turned around to see the dark haired one whipping his mouth. Felix's vision blurred as fire flowed through his veins. The pain was worse than the couple times he had broken bone or been stabbed combined.

"You were right, brother. For a human, his strength was almost matched to a vampire's. He will make an excellent weapon," Caius laughed darkly. That tackle really did hurt and buy the way Aro was rubbing his jaw this human was going to be one hell of a vampire.

Current day Volterra

Santiago had been dating Christina in secret for nearly three months now, but he didn't know if he could ask this much of her. Aro wanted him to create a hybrid. The only woman Santiago had eyes for was Christina. When he reached her apartment he had an idea of what he was going to say. Santiago sat down on the couch, wrapping his arm around her and prepared to tell the new found love of his life the truth about him. He decided it would be best if he just said it all at once.

"Christina I have not been completely honest with you. I have been pretending to be something I am not ever since I met you. I am not human, mio amore. I am a powerful immortal. More specifically a vampire. Before you get scared I just want to let you know that I would never hurt you and I'm not sure if I have ever said this but I love you," Santiago waited for her reaction. The room was silent for a couple minutes. "Oh, I guess that complicates things just a bit," was all she said in shock, "But I guess in a twisted way it makes sense. You only ever visit at night, you never eat or drink anything, when we met it was like to materialized out of nowhere, your hands are always ice cold, and you just always seemed different. You must really love and trust me if you're telling me this?" Santiago nodded, surprised by her calmness.

She smiled reassuringly before kissing passionately on the lips. The kiss got deeper as she climbed into his lap. Later that night they made love. Once it was confirmed that she was pregnant, Christina moved to Volterra with Santiago. He got permission from Aro to turn her once she went into labor so that Christina could be his mate. Maybe having a child won't be that bad.

Demetri on the other hand was struggling. He had tried twice, but just ended up killing the humans. He also kept thinking about Heidi for some reason and wishing he was with her. Finally he was successful. He didn't really care who the human was, he just chose her from the group of humans because she had really pretty blues eyes that stood out. Demetri was worried because he didn't see himself as a good father. A teacher yes, but not a father. When Jane and Alec joined the guard he had been their tutor and surprisingly had a great amount of success. Aro was strongly considering having him be a teacher for all four of the hybrids for book learning. Felix would be in charge of combat training. Heidi joked that she should teach 'Human World 101', since there was a strong chance all four would need help learning how to blend in with mortal society.

Felix was having the time of his life being a father. Olivia was always giggling at everything he did and was almost talking at two weeks old. The wives found pleasure in dressing her up in different dresses, which Olivia didn't mind. Chelsea was able to make Olivia think of her as a close aunt, which oddly never worked with Damien. He was just stubborn that way, like Jane.

Aro was overjoyed that everything was going according to plan. Christina was due in less than a week and Demetri's child would be due a week after that. But his excitement was short lived. Ever since he found out Santiago was secretly dating a human, he was watching him like a hawk, scanning his thoughts every day. One day, he discovered that Christina had no interest in joining the Volturi and Santiago planned to run away with her once her transformation was complete. Joham, Nahuel's father, was an old friend of his. They had been turned by the same man in Portugal. He would offer them shelter along with more knowledge on hybrids. Aro couldn't have that now could he?

One night Aro asked Santiago to him privately about maybe him assisting Felix in teaching combat training. They met in the basement near the incinerator. While Santiago was midsentence about how what an honor it would be, Aro swiftly ripped Santiago's head off and threw into the incinerator along with the body. Gathering some of the ashes and part of his guard uniform that was not completely burned up yet, walked upstairs to tell the guards that someone had murdered Santiago. It was probably one of the Cullen's witnesses, rebelling against the Volturi. Somehow, everyone bought it. Felix and Demetri swore they would avenge their fallen comrade, Jane and Alec wanted to track down the killer immediately, and the wives wept trying to look sensitive. Marcus was silent, perhaps it was the same killer who murdered his true love.

There was one person though, who didn't believe Aro. When Damien heard the news he said it had to be some sort of sick joke. He didn't seem to believe that Aro just happened to find his ashes without seeing the killer. That someone could just sneak into the castle undetected and kill one of their strongest fighters. Aro pretended to laugh off Damien's theories, saying the Halfling was too naïve and young to understand. He encouraged the guards not to listen to him. Even Alec didn't believe Damien. _You know he's the killer and he will do it again. Maybe you will be next. _Damien told the voices to shut up.

Damien slowly warmed back up to Alec. He still was hesitant for some unknown reason. Things between them had changed for some reason. Alec still didn't see himself as a fatherly figure, and with Marcus's sage advice he tried treating Damien like a little brother. Marcus thought part of the reason was that physically it seemed like there was a little less than a ten year age gap between them, since Damien looked like a kindergartener and Alec was small for a fifteen year old. Being alone and independent constantly had matured Damien to the point where he sometimes acted like a teenager or an adult. It was morbid to think that when Damien was full grown he would look the same age as Alec, if not older. Luckily, Damien's rapid growth had paused for a short bit. Olivia was catching up to him and had an advantage since she was born much larger that he was. It would only be about a month and a half until they were almost even. Part of the problem was that they were too alike. Both Alec and Damien were introverts who didn't like attention, would rather spend their time reading than socializing, and had a hard time understanding their own feelings. They were both more likely to block out emotions and them let build up over time. The only difference was that Damien was more vocal and bold about letting people know he didn't like them, while Alec tended to be more mature and diplomatic.

Jane on the other hand, adapted quickly to treating Damien like he was her little brother. She had centuries of practice being an older sibling. Nagging and bossiness was in her nature. Eventual they started to almost feel like friends. It was easier for them to get along since Damien acted similar to Alec sometimes. But in some ways he developed some habits from Jane. Damien struggled with following directions from people he didn't like, Aro and Caius for instance, he at times was impulsive like her. Luckily as he matured, a lot of that was fading away. In his mind he questioned much of what Aro or Caius said, but he was slowly getting better at lying and keeping a poker face about it.

A couple days later, on September twentieth, Christina gave birth to a son before dying of heartbreak and blood loss. Felix was the one closest the Santiago and promised to take responsibility for his son. To honor his father, the boy was named Santiago Cézario Junior. To avoid confusion, everyone nicknamed the baby Tiago. The boy had a similar pale russet color of skin Santiago had as a human, the amber eyes of his mother, and dark brown curly hair. Felix could already tell that Tiago would have a brawny, tall frame when he got older. So far he was the strongest of the hybrids and the only one that was venomous.

Olivia was over joyed to have a baby brother, even if he was adopted. Shortly after her first word was "Daddy!" which made Felix beam with pride. Tiago quickly began to love his adoptive father, mimicking Felix's facial expressions. Tiago always wanted to play with Felix and loved it when Felix narrated sports game on TV. He had inherited his biological parents love for sports. His first word was later, "Goal!"

On October first, Demetri became a father to a baby girl. From the first moment he held her, he knew he loved her deeply. She had the same dark blonde wavy hair as him, sharp features that were slightly more delicate than his, snow white skin, and thin lips. The only thing that didn't come from him was her bright blue eyes, which were much more vibrant than her mother. They glowed like sapphires and lighting. Demetri wanted to give her a Russian name, so he named her Marina Elena, because her eyes would make oceans green with envy. Elena because he had a feeling she would be a very bright child. Marina was surprisingly small, almost as small as Damien had been when he was born.

"You have such a beautiful daughter, Demetri. She's just like her father," it was Heidi. Smiling, she asked to hold her. Marina smiled with perfect white teeth at her father. "I know babies can be a handful. Since all the wives are too busy with Felix's, let me know if you need any help with this beauty," Heidi offered. Today was the best day of Demetri's life. A week later Marina said her first word, which was "Dad" in Russian. They mostly spoke Russian to each other, except Marina spoke German when she was being taken care of by Heidi. In an odd way she almost thought of her as a mother.

Marina and Tiago became quick friends. It was now mid-November and currently they looked two almost three Soon both were walking, following each other around and making games out of anything possible. Their favorite was hide and seek, or it at least use to be until Tiago got tired of always loosing. For some odd, whenever Marina was hiding, Tiago could never find her. One time he went hours without finding her, which was just under the table in the library. The next round, she found Tiago hiding in a closest in two minutes flat. Marina hid again, this time in plain sight behind a statue hoping to go easy on her best friend. This time Tiago got frustrated and asked Demetri to help him. For some reason, he also couldn't find her. He couldn't hear her tenor or find her scent. His baby girl was gone. Panic set in as he searched the Building top to bottom.

Demetri was about to knock over the remaining book shelves in the library when Damien stopped him, "Demetri, Marina's behind the fountain in the lobby." Damien didn't think he actually knew where she was, he just made that up on the spot to get Demetri to leave. Sprinting out of the room, Demetri found his daughter behind the fountain. How could she blocked his tracking? Maybe it was her gift. Excited yet worried that Marina's gift was to shield tracking, Demetri rushed to the throne room.

"I think I figured out what her gift is," Demetri exclaimed. Aro searched her thoughts smiling. "Yes, she can shield herself from not only trackers, but can make it so NOONE can find her. There also might be a slight chance she's a tracker like you Demetri since she seemed to find Tiago so easily. Marina is marvelous, simply marvelous. I can't wait to see what she will become when she is of age," Aro was almost hysterical. Finally a kid with a guaranteed power. Sifting through Demetri's thoughts, Aro's face contorted with confusion. "Wait, Damien was the only one who knew where she was? In Marina's thoughts, she hadn't seen Damien all day so there's no way he could have known where she was hiding. How..peculiar," Aro mused. Aro was still stumped on what Damien had for a power, firs they thought it was translating languages, then it seemed like Damien could tell that Aro was the one who killed Santiago, and now it seemed like Damien could find even people with tracking shields. He had been watching Damien everyone and then.

Yesterday Aro noticed Damien staring at this old painting of Caius, Marcus and himself. It was probably just him being curious, until Aro noticed Damien was staring at it with this odd ultra-focus, unblinking and unwavering, completely motionless for nearly an hour. Then the child snapped out of it, rubbing his eyes like dirt was in them, and left without a word. Before that, Damien occasionally was found talking to himself. But what was odd was that it sounded like he was having a conversation with someone else.

Now all that Damien seemed to do was sit alone in his room, or sometimes the library and sketch in his notebook. Aro needed to see if those note books had any clues to what gift Damien might possess.

Once Damien was asleep for the day, Aro crept into his room like smoke. Checking to make sure Damien was deep asleep, he cracked open the spiral notebook. The first couple pages were covered in ravens and these grotesque wolf-like creatures. The next were covered in nothing but the number six written dozens of times on each page. Following that was a picture of a small bible with a book mark in it. Each picture made Aro more and more apprehensive. One page had sketch of the Cullen's family crest, yet Aro was sure Damien had never seen it before. Next was a picture of a little Renesmee sitting on top of the Quileute shape-shifters. Next was of Jane and Alec burning at the stake followed by Felix in Roman battle armor. The last picture, had Aro been human, would have given him a heart attack. It was a flawless portrait of his sister Didyme being murdered by none other than Aro himself. The picture was in pencil, but looked so vivid it could have been a photograph.

Aro slowly set the notebook on the desk where he found it, glancing back Aro noticed Damien was awake and had been watching him this entire time. "You are very talented, piccolo demone, and I'm not just talking about your ability to use a pencil. Where did you see these images?" Aro sneered, laughing coldly. Damien just stared, not breaking eye contact. _Tell him the truth. No, lie say you didn't draw them. Don't say anything. Leave the poor boy alone, h can say whatever he wants to_. The voices in his head had been getting louder, multiplying each week. Now there were sometimes ten speaking at once. He didn't know what to tell Aro, these images just would randomly pop into his head. Lately he felt like he was going crazy. Every time he walked down the hallways, the painting would move and speak like they were movies. Damien kept having nightmares about the Volturi being destroyed by wolves and these random vampires. It was always the same empty, snowy field. Sometimes this one younger looking vampire would punch the ground and swallow half the guard into a crevasse. He named the vampire Benjamin.

Concentrating his thoughts, simplifying them as much as possible, Damien held his hand out to Aro. Aro saw all the random images, that paintings talk to him, the voices ordering him around, the great battle, how every time he guessed something on pure impulse it was right. Aro released his hand, this was the first time Damien's thoughts sounded like everyone else's, yet he had no idea what it meant. It had to be something huge, that no one was considering. Yet, Damien was also a liability. He knew too much, more than Aro had ever told anyone else. Would Damien being a talented ally outweigh being a disastrous enemy?

"Are you going to kill me, sir?" Damien frightened angel voice whispered, child-like eyes wide. Was he? As long as Damien kept silent and only told Aro what he saw, what was the harm? Except for him calling Sulpicia a bitch, finding out about Santiago, and the general lack of being social, he was a very mature, well-behaved kid. He stood out from his other siblings, and not just due to age. Olivia looked to be nearly the same age as him, since he had stopped growing for a short bit of time. Tiago and Marina looked only two or so years younger. Damien had a strong potential that scared Aro.

"Not today," was all Aro said before shutting the door behind him. Damien smiled. This was a test to see if he could hide some of his thoughts from him. Damien didn't mention how Chelsea's gift didn't seem to affect him. Or how he knew what Olivia and Tiago's gifts were. Or about the bible he found yesterday, peeking between the mattresses of one of the beds. Damien would definitely not tell Aro how he figured out how to tone his voice just right so that people could be manipulated. It worked on Marcus, when he was in charge of taking care of him. It worked with Jane and Alec. Now it seemed to work with Aro.

The next night, Aro asked Alec to try to teach Damien chess. Although the rules were confusing and seemed pointless, Damien learned the basics quickly. Alec won the first game, but partially because Damien lost focus after twenty minutes. He thought if he lost, Aro would leave him alone and Damien could go back to his room. Aro wanted Damien to try again. Wanting to finish as quickly as possible, Damien won in six and a half minutes, hopping down from his chair, thinking he was excused. Aro grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and told him to play again. Aro watched every move, analyzing each decision. Damien hated the way Aro was looking at him. It was the look that reminded him he was just subject two, a guinea pig. Damien won again, leaving Alec befuddled. After ten games of easy victory, Aro asked Damien to go fetch Demetri, their best strategist.

Demetri laughed, thinking it was going to be easy to beat a mere child. His cocky grin was soon lost when he realized that Damien was always at least three steps ahead. The first game lasted half an hour, after Damien found a way to corner the king with both his rooks. "Well even a broken clock is right twice a day," Demetri laughed lightly at his defeat. The next game was only ten minutes. Damien won again. After another ten rounds, Aro dismissed Demetri. The circus clown grin and piggy eye look that he wore scared Damien. _You should have kept you head down more. Why couldn't you pretended you were still asleep when he read your journal? Now he will never leave you alone and you'll be trapped here forever just like Alec and Jane. You're Aro's bitch now._

Aro then dismissed Damien after reading his thoughts. Things were going along splendidly. Yes there was a rocking start, but Aro rationalized that perhaps just a terrible toddler phase that Damien had matured out of. Damien had flooded his thoughts about how excited he was about starting combat training with Felix next week and becoming a guard just like Alec. It was all lies to distract Aro. The real chess game would never end.

Aro was going to contact Eleazar in hopes that he could share some light on Damien's gift. Since Aro was pleased with the numbers he had now, two boy, two girls. Two possibly gifted, two possibly fighters. If a problem arose it would be easy to dispose of them. Cauis was happy to see that there was more progress with subject two. They were still waiting for more from subject three and four, Olivia and Tiago. At least subject five had a gift. Eleazar might as well make one trip and have as little contact as possible. It would a mean a slight chance the Cullens would discover what their new secret weapons could do, but he needed to be sure WHAT the weapons was to begin with.

Damien decided to wander the Building just a bit before going to sleep for the day. He found his way into the lobby, where he smiled his angel smile at Joan. Strangely he liked Joan. At first he was curious because he had never met a human before, but now he thought of her as one of his closest friends. Apparently she worked as a psychologist back when she lived in Paris and was quiet smart. Joan was Damien miniscule link to the outside world, leaving the newspapers for him to read when she was finished with them, talking about how the human world was, and especially what "normalcy" was. It was an interesting concept compiling of family units, pets, animals, cities, schools, cars, friendship, food, music, warmth, and people. Before the only knowledge that there was an existence outside the building was in movies, which apparently there was no such thing as Godzilla, car chases didn't really happen, and the guy didn't always get the girl. Reality was weird.

Slowly Damien gained a small respect for humans. They had invented cars and mastered the flight of planes. Humans had families and close friends. Love that could be lost. Joan said that the special relationship between Alec and Jane was evidence of how real families were like. It wasn't the cold hallow 'brother' that Aro, Caius and Marcus addressed each other. It was the light, warmth that he saw with Demetri and Marina. But in the human world, it was more desperate and passionate because it would all end one day. Their lives were so short and fragile, it was sad.

Today she had a coffee and some sort of pastry from one of the cafés in the plaza. It smelled really good. "Bonjour, Damien," she sighed looking up from her laptop. She was playing Scrabble pretending to look busy. "What's that?" Damien asked looking at the pastry. Over the last month, Joan was curious about a hybrid's ability to eat human food. Chewing felt unnatural to Damien at first, but now he enjoyed human food. Especially chocolate. Since he now ate human food frequently, he noticed he felt less thirsty for blood, now only having one blood bag a week. Every Saturday night Joan would cook dinner for herself and often shared a little bit with Damien, which to him felt like breakfast. Olivia, Tiago, and Marina tried human food, but they couldn't stand the taste, so they spat it out. Just another way he was a freak.

Joan offered a small bit of the pastry, "It's a croissant". It was fluffy and flaky. It tasted slightly sweet and buttery. One of the amazing things Damien discovered about human food was that it had a wide spectrum of tastes and textures. Damien was curious what coffee tasted like, but Joan joked that caffeine and super human speed weren't a good combo for someone so small. At first Damien found her to be sad and quiet, but that was because she was still in shock of her brother's death. She had a way of making him feel almost human when she affectionately swept his bangs out of his eyes with her soft hand, saying he needed a haircut. Or offering to make him hot chocolate, when she made her morning cup of tea. With her he wasn't just subject two.

She reminded him of someone but he didn't know who. Every now and then he would slip up and call her "Katherine" or "Mom" for some reason. He didn't know anyone named Katherine. Until he found a bible that belonged to someone named Katherine Argento. It had this odd book mark with his bearded guy in a white robe winking. It gave him nightmares. What was odd was that it had a note addressed to him.

_Dear Damien,_

_I'm not sure what you are, boy, girl, demon, angel, human, but I love you. The world is a very dark, disturbing place where happy endings seldom happen. There is a strong chance I will never be able to meet you, but know I am watching over you from heaven, or possibly Hell. I'm not sure what qualifies someone as good or evil, for I have done terrible things in my past. You will too do dark things. But you will learn in time learn that light doesn't always mean good, just as darkness doesn't always mean evil. You might be a Satanic demon, a soulless monster, but when I felt you kick inside of me I knew you were not evil. My parents raised me to be a good Catholic girl, so I can say goodbye without saying that I am praying for you. When you are older, I want to you find my sister Elizabeth and her husband Tommy. They have a son Lorenzo, your cousin, I think you would get along well with. Be careful of my parents, if holy water and crosses hurt whatever you are, prepare for pain. They might not accept you, or love you, or even believe you, but show them the rosary around your neck. If they say you are evil with no choice but damnation, don't believe them. You always have a choice, I chose to leave them. But never, ever forget light is not the same as good and dark is not the same as evil. I love you with all my soul._

_Your dying mother,_

_Katherine Argento_

There were tear stains on the page from her crying. Damien felt overwhelmingly hallow. He had always wished to meet him mom, but now he knew that she was dead. She was human just like Joan. He was the reason his mother was gone. Damien always wondered where the rosary he always kept around his neck came from, now he knew. He didn't tell anyone about the note. It was just another secret to keep from Aro.

September Forks, Wa

Renesmee was finally turning one! She now looked about eight years old. The aging had slowed to a crawl now. Friends and family were flooding in. The Denalis, Amazons, and Nahuel came a week before to help set up. This weekend Benjamin and Tia along with the Irish coven and a couple of the nomads. Jacob seemed oddly tense whenever she hung out with Nahuel of laughed at his jokes. Jacob asked Nahuel to at least put a shirt on, given his lack of clothes. Nahuel smiled deviously and said we will when Jacob did. On a more serious note, Nahuel told her he tried to talk to his father again hoping to repair their relationship. He envied Nessie for having such a stable, loving family. Apparently one of his father's friends was going to have a kid, but then disappeared. Nahuel's youngest sister Jennifer also joined him. She had the same nose, mouth, cheekbones, and eye shape as her brother, but had a slightly more golden skin tone with blue eyes and sun-streaked hair. She looked like she spent a lot of time in the sun. She was a similar size and build to Bella. According to Nahuel his eldest sister Serena was too brain washed by her father's disregard for humans and being a superior race and he didn't get along with her at all. Maysun, his other older sister was the definition of middle child syndrome and caused chaos in order to get their attention, mostly by sleeping around and killing her many boyfriends. Nahuel was very protective of Jeni, or as he called her 'Yeni', and was able to instill somewhat of a conscience. She went between hunting animals and humans all the time, but really just wanted to be a normal girl. Jennifer and Ness became fast friends.

Alice was a decorating tornado of ribbons, glitter, fairy lights, and pink. She barked orders about furniture arrangement, how to hang streamers, where she wanted every last lantern hung, etcetera. Everything had to be perfect for her niece. Emmett joked that she was the love child of Hitler and Martha Stewart. Esme was making a cake for the wolves and Charlie. Nobody else, including Nessie, ate human food.

Once everyone arrived her birthday was full of friends and family. Daddy had gotten her the newest iTouch along with iTunes gift cards. Grandpa Carlisle gave her a laptop to 'be used for home schooling'. Everyone else mainly gave her clothes or stuffed animals. Surprisingly Aro sent her a gift. For some reason Daddy seemed furious about this. It was just a simple, elegant crème colored envelope. Inside was a note, saying happy birthday and flowery compliments. As she read farther, Aro said that if she was ever interested in joining the guard there was a spot for her always. Tucked inside the birthday card was a voucher for a plane ticket. One ticket.

"You know you don't have to say yes, he asks people all the time to join," Momma assured her. She shouldn't worry about it, the Volturi had wanted Alice and Daddy for a long time and they were still here. Oddly enough, even though the Volturi had tried to kill her and her family, she was slightly interested. Daddy quickly took the cards from her hand and threw it in the trash can. As always, he made decisions for her.


End file.
